Distributed state estimation using phasor measurement units (PMUs)for a system snapshot

Abstract

As the size of electric power systems are increasing, the techniques to protect, monitor and control them are becoming more sophisticated. Government, utilities and various organizations are striving to have a more reliable power grid. Various research projects are working to minimize risks on the grid. One of the goals of this research is to discuss a robust and accurate state estimation (SE) of the power grid. Utilities are encouraging teams to change the conventional way of state estimation to real time state estimation. Currently most of the utilities use traditional centralized SE algorithms for transmission systems. Although the traditional methods have been enhanced with advancement in technologies, including PMUs, most of these advances have remained localized with individual utility state estimation. There is an opportunity to establish a coordinated SE approach integration using PMU data across a system, including multiple utilities and this is using Distributed State Estimation (DSE). This coordination will minimize cascading effects on the power system. DSE could be one of the best options to minimize the required communication time and to provide accurate data to the operators. This project will introduce DSE techniques with the help of PMU data for a system snapshot. The proposed DSE algorithm will split the traditional central state estimation into multiple local state estimations and show how to reduce calculation time compared with centralized state estimation. Additionally these techniques can be implemented in micro-grid or islanded system.