Optimal PMU-based monitoring architecture design for power systems

• The paper considers the optimal design of a monitoring infrastructure for state estimation in power systems.
• In order to effectively track the complex transients of power systems, dynamical observability is considered.
• The optimal design consists in finding the optimal location of PMUs and PDCs which maximizes a gramian-based index, under communication constraints.
• The design of a nonlinear state observer based on the monitoring infrastructure is considered.
• The effectiveness of both the optimal location design and the nonlinear observer is demonstrated on the IEEE 10 generator 39 bus power system.

This paper is dedicated to a new methodology for designing an optimal monitoring architecture by using a limited number of PMUs (Phasor Measurement Units) and PDCs (Phase Data Concentrators). The optimal design problem consists in defining the optimal location of both PMUs and PDCs by maximizing the expected value of the trace of the observability gramian of the power system over a large number of set point scenarios, while minimizing some communication infrastructure costs. Furthermore, a nonlinear dynamical state-observer, based on the Extended Kalman Filter, is proposed. This state-observer allows to take transient phenomena into account for wide-area power systems described by algebraic-differential equations, without needing nonlinear inversion techniques. The overall approach is illustrated with the IEEE 10 generator 39 bus New England power system.