Leveraging Synchronized Measurements for Novel Wide-Area Event Detector

Continuous real-time data availability is essential for the healthy operation of power systems. By analyzing this data, situational awareness can be improved, and appropriate post-event assessment and control measures can be formulated. Phasor measurement units (PMUs) provide real-time access to data in the form of voltage or frequency signals, which can be utilized to realize the system’s response of an event. Efficiently evaluating the features of power system events enhances the knowledge base of the scenario and aids the system user in initiating the corrective actions needed for safe operations. This article proposes a unified approach to first identify the key locations for placing the PMUs in the power network optimally and then utilize the synchronized data to formulate a novel Wide-Area Event Detector (WAED). A scheme developed on Integer Linear Programming (ILP) is developed to assess the credible location of PMU placement such that the complete system data is available even under contingencies. The available data assists the WAED to track the real-time situation of the system reliably and accurately. The new Event Indicator (EI) indices are developed and encompassed in WAED. EI employs synchronized frequency readings to detect a system event occurrence. The AdaBoost classifier then utilizes the EI as features to evaluate the event detection in real-time. The suggested unified method is implemented on a standard IEEE 39-Bus test system. The proposed detector detects events within 1 ms and is 100% accurate.