Review of Advancements in Synchrophasor Measurement Applications

Introduction

Utilities around the world who have adopted the synchrophasor technology reported numerous tangible benefits in reliability, asset utilization and power system efficiency. Many utilities have integrated the synchrophasor measurements systems along with existing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Energy Management Systems (EMS). In response to the industry needs, the diversity of synchrophasor applications have grown significantly, and many new applications such as renewable energy generation monitoring, system inertia monitoring, and grid code compliance monitoring are emerging. There have been significant developments in wide-area protection and wide-area control applications since the publication of previous CIGRE reports in phasor measurement unit (PMU) applications.  As a result, there is a wealth of real-world experience in deployment and integration of PMUs and synchrophasor systems. Despite the work of WG C2.18 leading to the publication of TB 917 focused on operator decision support systems, there was a need to share the broader developments of the measurement technology and standards, practical experiences, best practices, and latest research. As a result, CIGRE created a joint WG to explore such advances, and the terms of reference for JWG C4/C2.62 was approved on March 28th, 2021. The objectives of this Joint Working Group were:

1. To provide an updated overview of synchrophasor technology including standard updates.
2. To provide an updated view of industry and academia experience on the concentration, archiving, and use of PMU data.
3. To describe emerging applications and any technology gaps such as high dependency on reliable telecommunication, precise time synchronisation, signal latency, etc. requiring further research and development.
4. To discuss the end-users’ experiences of deploying synchrophasor measurement systems and applications and elaborate additional specially tailored applications for enhancing secure power system operation.
5. Elaborate and deliver application examples for new specific PMU applications.

The Joint Working Group was started with 31 members representing 15 countries. During the course of its activities, in addition to the formally selected members, many other experts from the utilities, manufacturers and academia contributed to the efforts of the Working Group.

Scope and Methodology

The scope of the Working Group was to provide an updated review of specific PMU applications including:

• Detection of sub-synchronous resonance, very low frequency governor modes, control modes, and oscillations source location.
• Improved situational awareness, synchrophasor-enhanced state estimation including linear, distributed, and dynamic state estimation.
• Voltage and transient stability instability detection
• On-line and off-line model parameter identification for generators, loads, lines, and systems equivalents.
• Emerging applications such as grid code compliance monitoring such as monitoring of voltage and frequency control, fault ride through performance, etc., wide area protection and control systems including synchrophasor based backup protection, special protection systems, enhancements to FACTS and HVDC control.

The Working Group reviewed published literature and solicited the end-users’ experiences of equipment and software systems used to implement synchrophasor applications. The discussions included various practical issues encountered and solutions developed to overcome these issues.

Content of the Review

The content of the review is presented in 7 chapters.

Chapter 1 presents a brief background, motivation and scope of review. 

Chapter 2 presents a review of the recent advancements in the synchrophasor technology and standards. Highlights include the unified IEC and IEEE synchrophasor measurement standards, release of new IEEE standard on streaming telemetry transport protocol (STTP), updates to the IEEE phasor data concentrator standards and the IEEE guide on synchronization, calibration, testing and installation of PMUs. The basic measurement technology remains the same, but higher standard reporting rates will enable new types of applications, especially in the areas of renewable energy integration and wide area protection. The use of PMUs for distribution applications in the field is still emerging and there is an active IEEE/PSRC Working Group (WG C41) that attempts to identify the requirements of potential distribution applications and enhancements required to the synchrophasor measurement standards.

Chapter 3 of the technical brochure reviewed recent trends in system architecture, data integration frameworks and protocols. Vendors and utilities are experienced with integration of information from PMUs with other sources such as SCADA systems, but architecture used, and protocols employed are...