PMU testing and synchrophasor system life-cycle management

Date: Wednesday, May 25                              Time: 2:50 pm – 4:20 pm (CEST)

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Name and title of the panel Chair: Mladen Kezunovic, Regents Professor

Organization: Texas A&M University, USA

Email: kezunov@gmail.com

Photo and short biography of the Chair: Dr. Mladen Kezunovic has been with Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA since 1986, where he is currently Regents Professor, Eugene E. Webb Professor, and the Site Director of “Power Engineering Research Center” consortium. For over 30 years he has been the Principal Consultant of XpertPower Associates, a consulting firm specializing in power systems data analytics. His expertise is in protective relaying, automated power system disturbance analysis, computational intelligence, data analytics, and smart grids. He has authored over 600 papers, given over 120 seminars, invited lectures, and short courses, and consulted for over 50 companies worldwide. He served as a Convener of the CIGRE WG that prepared the CIGRE Technical Brochure 843, “Life Cycle Testing of Synchrophasor Based Systems used for Protection, Monitoring and Control” published in 2021. Dr. Kezunovic is a CIGRE Fellow, Honorary and Distinguished member. He is Registered Professional Engineer in Texas and a Life Fellow of IEEE.

Panel Abstract: Deployment of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in the US grid has surpassed 3,000. Other countries such as China, Russia and Brazil are deploying PMUs at a rapid pace widely as well. Combined, the mentioned countries have deployed or are planning to deploy over 10,000 PMUs so far. This panel will be focused on the discussions of how the synchrophasor systems are to be maintained during their life cycle, starting from the type and conformance testing for PMUs to the commissioning, regular maintenance and troubleshooting testing of the entire synchrophasor system. The Panelists from the USA, China, Russia and Brazil will discuss their experiences and share the lessons learned. Also, summary of the relevant issues from the recently approved IEEE standard C37.242.2021 “Guide for Synchronization, Testing, Calibration and Installation of PMUs”, and CIGRE Technical Brochure 843, “Life Cycle Testing of Synchrophasor Based Systems used for Protection, Monitoring and Control”, both published in 2021, will be given.

Panelist 1:

Name: Mladen Kezunovic, Regents Professor

Organization: Texas A&M University, USA

Email: kezunov@gmail.com

Short bio and photo: included above in the Panel Chair section

Title of presentation: Why PMU testing and lifecycle management of PMUs matter

Abstract: The deployment of synchrophasors in the USA has surpassed 3000 units in the transmission system and deployment in the distribution system is foreseen as taking a rapid development in the next 10 years. The assessment of the needs for testing and life cycle management of PMUs and synchrophasor systems was addressed by a CIGRE WG that prepared the CIGRE Technical Brochure 843, “Life Cycle Testing of Synchrophasor Based Systems used for Protection, Monitoring and Control” published in 2021. This presentation will focus on two issue: highlights of the findings included in the CIGRE report, and experiences from examining recording from close to 500 PMUS placed in all three US interconnections over the period of two years.

Panelist 2:

Name: José Eduardo da Rocha Alves Junior

Organization: Centro de Pesquisas de Energia Elétrica (CEPEL), Brazil

Email: alves@cepel.br

Short biography: J. E. R. Alves, Jr. received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering, in 1986, 1991 and 1999, respectively, from COPPE/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is Associate Professor at the Federal Fluminense University since 1991. Since 1995, he has been with CEPEL, the largest Energy Research Center in Brazil, as a Researcher. His main areas of research are: synchrophasor measurements, systems automation and experimental research. He is senior member of IEEE (SM’05) and also CIGRE member.

Title of presentation: Testing Practices in Brazil

Abstract: The Brazilian system operator ONS is implementing a large phasor measurement system, comprising more than 200 PMUs with a forecast of more than a thousand PMUs. All PMUs used in this system were evaluated at Synchrophasor Measurement Laboratory in CEPEL, the largest electric energy research center in South America. More than 8 PMU models, involving 5 manufacturers, were evaluated, bringing valuable comparative information about PMUs, especially regarding the differences between their performances and the impact at foreseen PMU applications. Based on this experience, a reference PMU for field tests was developed, providing even more reliability for the Brazilian phasor measurement system. Besides that, tests were also carried out on PMUs having digital signals as inputs, in accordance with the IEC 61850-9-2 standard, coming from SAMUs (Stand Alone Merging Units), providing interesting results.

Panelist 3:

Name: Tianshu Bi

Organization: North China Electric Power University, China

Email: tsbi@ncepu.edu.cn

Short biography: Prof. Tianshu Bi received her Ph. D degree from the University of Hongkong in 2002 and currently is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at North China Electric Power University. She also serves as the Vice President of North China Electric Power University and Executive Director of the State Key Lab of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources. She got the honor of “Distinguished Young Scholars supported by NSFC(National Natural Science Foundation of China)” in 2017. Her main area of expertise is synchronized measurement technology and its applications, power system protection and control. She is PI of NSFC projects, including National Major Research Instrument Development Project, Major International Joint Research Project and MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) Projects, including 973, 863 and Key Basis Research Subprojects. And she has published over 200 academic papers. One National Science and Technology Progress Awards (2nd class), three Ministry and Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards (1st class), and four Ministry and Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards (2nd class) have been conferred. She also got the honor of Outstanding Contribution Award for Chinese Power Industry Science and Technology Development. She has established broad research collaborations with research institutes and universities in US and EU.

Title of presentation: PMU Calibrator Development and Testing Practices in China

Abstract: In China, there are more than 4000 PMUs in transmission networks at present. Due to the integration of large-scale of renewables and increasement of power electronics, hundreds of micro PMUs have been installed in distribution networks and new energy generation. In the future, more and more PMUs will be deployed in power-electronics-enabled power grids to monitor system behavior. To improve the measurement performance and data quality of PMUs in China, a PMU test platform based on a highaccuracy calibrator has been developed for PMU testing. Some techniques are proposed to make the PMU calibrator provide the reference values. An adaptive synchronized sampling method based on phaselocked loop technology are put forward to reduce hardware errors. A high-accuracy phasor measurement method based on a general nonlinear fitting model is proposed to ensure measurement accuracy. Up to now, this PMU test platform has been used to test PMUs from 7 manufactures in China.

Panelist 4:

Name: Kenneth Martin

Organization: Electric Power Group, USA

Email: martin@electricpowergroup.com

Short biography: Kenneth Martin is a principal engineer with the Electric Power Group (EPG). He has 45 years of experience in the electric utility industry in communication, precise timing, instrumentation, and testing, first at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and currently at EPG. He started working with synchrophasor measurement with the original PMUs in 1987 and led development in their deployment and testing including implementing the measurement system at BPA and building the first PDC. He continues to work with synchrophasor measurement applications, managing development of real-time data quality, linear state estimation, real-time contingency analysis, and area-angle monitor applications. Mr. Martin led development of many standards for synchrophasors. He chaired the development of the IEEE C37.118 Synchrophasor standard series and convened the IEC-IEEE 60255-118-1 synchrophasor measurement standard. Mr. Martin has authored/co-authored more than 100 technical papers and articles, is a registered Professional Engineer in Oregon and Washington, and is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.

Title of presentation: Synchrophasor Measurement Testing in the USA

Abstract: Since its introduction in the 1980’s, synchrophasor measurement has become the primary source of information of power system dynamic performance both for real-time operation and off-line analytics. Standards have been developed to assure that the measurements are accurate and compatible and also that data reporting is consistent. Testing then closes the circle to assure compliance with standards. The current international standard IEC/IEEE 60255-118-1 covers PMU measurement of phasor, frequency, and ROCOF under both steady-state and dynamic operating conditions. The guide C37.242-2021 details implementation of tests that assure compliance with this standard. The IEEE provides certification for compliance with this standard under its ICAP program. In addition to measurement qualification, phasor measurement systems need continual monitoring to assure that the data reporting is accurate and reliable. These services are provided by commercial applications that both support reliable operation and prompt notification when service where needed. Initial PMU qualification coupled with continual system monitoring assures utilities of reliable information for analysis, operation and control of the power system.