Wide-area monitoring and control at Hydro-Quebec: past, present and future

Int Trans Elec Energy Syst

Ghandhari

2011

Power system oscillation damping remains as one of the major concerns for secure and reliable operation of large power systems, and is of great current interest to both industry and academia. The principal reason for this is that the inception of poorly-damped low-frequency inter-area oscillations (LFIOs) when power systems are operating under stringent conditions may lead to systemwide breakups or considerably reduce the power transfers over critical corridors. With the availability of high-sampling rate phasor measurement units (PMUs), there is an increasing interest for effectively exploiting conventional damping control devices, such as power system stabilizers (PSSs), by using these measurements as control input signals. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of distinct elements (or "building blocks") necessary for wide-area power system damping using synchrophasors and PSSs. These building blocks together shape a tentative methodical framework, and are disposed as follows: (1) fundamental understanding of the main characteristics of inter-area oscillations, (2) wide-area measurement and control systems (WAMS and WACS) and wide-area damping control (WADC), (3) advanced signal processing techniques for mode property identification, (4) methods for model-based small-signal analysis, (5) control input signals selection, and (6) methods for PSS control design. We also describe the latest developments in the implementation of synchrophasor measurements in WAMS and WACS as well as their prospectives for WADC applications. This paper serves both to abridge the state-of-the-art in each of these elements, and to accentuate aspiring ideas in each building block.

Section: A Wide-area Measurement Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Wide-area Measurement Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Survey on power system stabilizers control and their prospective applications for power system damping using Synchrophasor‐based wide‐area systems

Int Trans Elec Energy Syst

Ghandhari

2011

“…Input signals can be categorized into two groups: local and "global" (also known as wide-area [Glavic and Van Cutsem (2009)]) signals. Although it has been shown in several studies that the former are less preferable to the latter [Kamwa et al (2006); Chow et al (2000); Kamwa et al (2005)], at present, global signals are seldom used in practice. In fact, two of the major challenges in the field are to adequately utilize global signals, and to select "appropriate" input signal types for power oscillation damping control; i.e., signals with high robustness and observability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Persistence of Dominant Inter-Area Oscillation Paths in Large-Scale Power Networks

IFAC Proceedings Volumes

2012

This article discusses the degree of persistence of dominant inter-area oscillation paths: the passageways containing the highest content of inter-area oscillations in large-scale power networks. To this aim, a number of contingency studies are carried out: faults being imposed on the lines connecting to the dominant inter-area path. The path persistence is then examined using the relationship between sensitivities of network variables (i.e. voltages and current, magnitude and angle), and mode shapes describing the contribution of the oscillations among the generators variables (e.g. speed and angle). This relationship is termed network modeshape. The larger in magnitude and the lesser the variation the network modeshape is, the more observable and the more robust the signals measured from the dominant path becomes. The outcome is a proposed signal combination to be used as inputs to the damping controller for mitigation of inter-area oscillations in large-scale power systems.

“…One of PMU-data based applications of wide-area monitoring systems (WAMS) that has received much attention recently is to exploit existing and potential remote signals from phasor measurement units (PMUs) [Kamwa et al (2006)] for inter-area mode control. Wide-area power oscillation dampers (WAPOD) may be used to damp oscillations in large interconnected networks [N.R.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistence of Multiple Interaction Paths for Individual Inter-Area Modes

IFAC Proceedings Volumes

2012

Dominant interaction paths are the passageways containing the highest modal content of particular oscillations in interconnected power systems. For the case of inter-area modes, pinpointing the dominant path that corresponds to each mode may allow for the extraction of signals that bear a significant modal content at a particular inter-area frequency. Strong modal content for these inter-area modes may also be spread onto secondary paths. These secondary paths bear similar properties as those shown by dominant paths. The aim of this study is thus to demonstrate the persistence of both dominant and secondary paths by employing "network modeshape" properties. The existence of the paths is verified by nonlinear time-domain simulations where modal content at each inter-area frequency is extracted. The proper selection of feedback signals from the dominating paths may increase the flexibility of WAPODs by providing a number of signal choices to be used as backup in the presence of contingencies.