Protection and Stability Assessment in Future Distribution

Networks Using PMUs

Feng Ding, C. D. Booth
University of Strathclyde
UK
f.ding@strath.ac.uk, c.booth@eee.strath.ac.uk


Keywords: Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), Distribution
Networks, Monitoring, Control and Protection.
Abstract
Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) have the potential to play
an essential role in power system monitoring and operation in
the future, particularly for power systems incorporating
increasing amounts of distributed generation (DG) and
possibly systems operating in islanded mode in the future [1].
Their ability to directly measure and provide the voltage and
current phasors at the PMU location offers numerous
possibilities for ascertaining information relating to the state
and health of the power system. Typical applications of
PMUs in distribution networks include: state estimation,
dynamic stability supervision, instability prediction and
control, protection and fault location, and power quality
monitoring [2].

This paper presents a brief overview of the applications of
PMU-enabled distribution network functions, with a focus on
loss of mains (LOM) protection using a model that is
representative of a distribution network incorporating DG.
The paper reports on extensive simulations that have been
carried out in order to develop a PMU-based system that can
detect (very quickly) loss-of mains conditions under
situations where local (i.e. potentially islanded) load and DG
output is very closely balanced. Furthermore, it is
demonstrated that the developed PMU-based LOM system
can identify and differentiate between load transients, local
short circuits and true loss of mains conditions under a variety
of different scenarios. Future activities in the project are also
presented.
1 Introduction
Wide area measurement using synchronised phasor
measurements is assuming an increasing role in monitoring
and control of transmission networks. This technology may
also be capable of improving the performance of distribution
networks. One of the most significant characteristics of future
distribution networks will be the introduction of increased
amounts of distributed generators (DG), which will be
connected to achieve a number of objectives including
improving efficiency, reduced transmission losses and the
introduction of greater amounts of renewable energy sources
such as wind power and solar energy [1]. Many of these
generators will be inverter-interfaced in the future due to the
sources of power inherently producing asynchronous ac or dc.
However, inverter-interfaced sources may give rise to
concerns over performance of the inverter during faults, its
ride-through capabilities and coordination of inverter and
network protective functions [3]. Flexible control and
enhanced monitoring are also required to meet more complex
operating conditions caused by the presence of DG, including
bidirectional power flows and, possibly in the future,
intentionally islanded system operation. Higher accuracy and
very low values of uncertainty are also required for the
measurements of phasors of different locations in
geographically smaller distribution systems compared to the
accuracy requirements at transmission level. This is due to the
reduced line lengths in distribution networks [1].

PMUs can provide high accuracy of voltage and current
phasors and are also capable of supplying frequency
information. Furthermore, one of the most important
characteristics of PMUs is the extremely high precision of
time references provided by the GPS (Global Positioning
System) [4]. The cost has of obtaining synchrophasor
measurements has reduced. Associated developments,
including the availability of high performance data
concentrators and high-speed communication channels with
guaranteed bandwidth, have also contributed to the increased
interest in the applicability of PMUs at the distribution level.
2 Phasor and PMU Functions
2.1 Phasors

Fig. 1. A sinusoidal wave form and its phasor representation[4].

A phasor is a vectorial representation of an ac signal with
sinusoidal waveform as shown in . It
is well known that a sinusoid can be written using the
equation:

cos (1)

In Equation (1), is the angular velocity. is the initial
angle between a reference point and the positive peak.

is
the peak amplitude of the waveform. The magnitude of
phasor equals to the root mean square (RMS) value of the
waveform which is (X

).

A phasor representation corresponds to a pure sinusoid.
However, in real world situations, ac signals are typically
distorted by the presence of harmonics. As the analysis of a
signal is always focused on specific frequency components,
the extraction of the component of interest is important. In a
digital measurement system, this is usually realised by the
'Discrete Fourier TransIorm (DFT) or the 'Fast Fourier
TransIorm (FFT) [5]. A time span for the measurement is
selected, which is known as the 'time window. PMUs
continuously sample the waveform using a moving time
windows and update the value of the phasor that is output on
a continuous basis.
2.2 Phasor Measurement Unit
There is no uniform structure adopted for commercially
available PMUs as several companies provide such offerings.
However, the functional blocks of a typical PMU are generic,
and the common components are shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. The function blocks of a typical PMU. [4]

As shown in Fig. 2, analogue input signals, which are derived
from a scaled signal from voltage and current transformers
(with a typical range of 10V [4]), are initially passed
through anti-aliasing filters. A PMU may collect data from
different locations in the system on a simultaneous basis and
normally requires data from all three phases to extract the
positive-sequence component, which is what is normally of
interest and contains information that can be used to assess
the state of the power system.

PMUs are synchronised by satellites through a GPS receiver.
The time accuracy of such system is typically in the order of a
few hundred nanoseconds [4]. Time stamps are created by the
GPS receiver as a label of measurement and for future
comparison of measurements. The other important function of
the GPS receiver is that it can generate a one
pulse-per-second signal to a phase-locked oscillator to
synchronise and lock the phase of the sampling clock.

An A/D convertor samples the signals from the output of the
anti-aliasing filter. To achieve better stability and accuracy,
over sampling is used in several commercially available
systems. The highest economically-achievable sampling rate
is always so that the accuracy of the phasor
measurement/estimation can be improved [6].

The microprocessor uses the digital signal from the A/D
converter to calculate the quantities required, including the
magnitude and phase angle of the voltage and current, the
measured frequency and in some cases the rate of change of
frequency. The quantities of different measuring point can be
communicated and compared using the time stamps as unique
references, regardless of any time delay associated with the
communication system.
3 Typical PMU Applications
3.1 Protection Functions
Two main applications have been investigated including Loss
of Mains (LOM) and fault event monitoring.

1) Loss of Mains
Loss of Mains, which is also known as islanding, occurs when
part of the utility network with at least one distributed
generator is separated from the rest of the system [7]. It is not
permitted in most countries because of safety hazards and
power quality issues. One research project, reported in [8],
has argued that voltage angle scheme of detecting islanding is
capable of detection down to 1% DG/local load power
imbalance levels, comparing to frequencybased schemes
which typically cannot detect islanding when local load and
DG output levels prior to islanding are within 4% of each
other.

Other researchers have proposed a scheme of detecting LOM
which compares the phase angle difference as computed from
measurements taken at the grid supply substation and from
distributed generators using PMUs [9]. It stated that the phase
angle variation between several sites in 24 hours rarely
exceeds 13. One experiment was also carried out in the
island of Ireland under this research project.

Fig. 5. Instantaneous Phase difference less hourly
'steady-state average. |9]
0 5 illustrates the approximate steady state average value
converted from an hourly continuous measurement window.
It is obvious that the oscillation of phase angle difference
rarely exceeds with the exception of the time around
18:00; this was possibly due to the operation of the wind farm
at this period.

This research presents important characteristics of phase
angle differences which will be widely applied in the future
during normal operation. It offers an opportunity to allow
generators to maintain operating during system faults,
provided that the phase deviation remains in a particular
range.

2) Fault Event Monitoring
Power system protection requires fast detection and clearance
of faults to avoid damage to equipment, ensure safety of the
public and personnel, and to avoid system instability and
potential blackouts. It has been reported in [10] that several
advantages are offered by the ability to monitor transmission
system events at lower voltage levels. PMUs were
implemented at the 400kV, 132kV and 400V levels. Two
events were initiated and data collected from the various
PMUs were analysed.

This research suggests that PMU measurements at lower
voltage levels can not only provide accurate monitoring of
local events, but also offer good observability of the higher
voltage level system. PMUs can therefore be implemented at
lower voltage levels to provide effective monitoring of the
entire system. One case study had been carried out in the
Czech Republic [11]. Fault events at transmission level were
visible from data relating to frequency and voltage angle
gathered from PMUs at the distribution level. However,
incomplete information suggests that a reasonable PMU
measuring system should be set up and more field
experiments need to be carried out.
3.2 Instability Prediction
Power system instability may be defined as a condition where
the power system is not able to remain in a normal operating
status during or after a disturbance [12]. As illustrated in Fig.
6, a 'supercalibrator is proposed in [13] using the
combination of PMU data, SCADA data and protection relay
data as the input.


Fig. 6. Basic function of supercalibrator. [13]

The general scheme of the supercalibrator for stability
prediction is to calculate the total energy and compare it to
the energy boundary of the system. Total energy of the
system can be calculated from generator torque angles and
speeds, which can be obtained from the output of
supercalibrator. The energy boundary of the system can be
derived from the energy function. The system will remain
stable if the total energy is below the energy boundary. [13]

The introduction of PMU data can significantly improve the
accuracy of prediction and provide more confidence for the
system operators to control the system closer to the energy
boundary. Future work is dedicated to develop appropriate
visualisation for the output of the supercalibrator and more
field experiments need to be carried out.
4 LOM Protection using PMU data
This represents the deliverable from the work carried out to
date in this research project. The simulation that underpins the
work carried out so far has been carried out using
SimPowerSystems blockset within MATLAB. The network is
modelled according to an existing utility network and is
illustrated in Fig. 7. This network represents a section of a
UK DNO`s system and was used as part of the work carried
out at the University of Strathclyde that resulted in production
of an Engineering Recommendation relating to setting of
LOM protection for the Energy Networks Association [14].
The DG using in this simulation is a directly connected
synchronous generator with speed and voltage control (also
used in the ENA study), connected at the 33kV level.


Fig. 7. Simplified diagram of the simulated network.

In this section, three general scenarios are applied to the
network:
Islanding events with active power imbalance of 0%, 1%,
2%, 3%, 10%, 20% between the DG generation output
and local load demand prior to islanding. The circuit
breaker opens at 0.5s in all situations.
Three phase faults at six different locations between
B11&B13, B14&B16, B18&B20, B8&B11 and at B2.
Faults are applied at 0.5s and cleared by network
protection 0.25s after initiation.
Load switching (off and on). The range of load changes
are from 2.7MW to 25MW, with load disconnection at
0.5s and connection at 1.5s.

To develop a simple threshold for detection of LOM based on
voltage angle response is difficult as their magnitude ranges
are similar for certain cases in the 500ms after event initiation.
However, for islanding events, voltage angle drifts
increasingly as time progresses following islanding, but
requires a long time for detection when balanced conditions
are simulated. For fault and load switching events, voltage
angles are more likely to experience a large initial deviation,
often followed by a small recovery or 'dragging back. To
investigate this phenomenon, a Rate of Change of Phase
Angle (ROCOPA) based detection and classification criterion
is proposed for each of the three main categories of event.

R0C0PA

uegieess (2)

The time window for the calculation is selected to be 60ms.

represents the voltage angle at k processing interval;

represents the voltage angle 60ms prior to k processing

interval.

Voltage angle can be further evaluate by calculating the
'acceleration oI change oI phase angle indicated in Fig. 8,
Fig. 9 and Fig. 10.

Acceleiation

uegieess

(3)

and

are the ROCOPA at k and k-i

(i=60ms) processing interval.
Figs 8 and 9 present the behaviour of ROCOPA for islanding
with various levels of imbalance, faults at different locations
and load changes with different magnitudes.


Fig. 8. Response of voltage angle acceleration to islanding
event for post-islanding load imbalance of 0-20%.


Fig. 9. Response of voltage angle acceleration to three phase
fault events at different locations.


Fig. 10. Response of voltage angle acceleration to load
switching off at main sites.
Fault location
Post-island load
imbalance
Load switching
magnitude
time/s
time/s
time/s
uegiees

uegiees

uegiees

In this simulation, there is a simulation error of pahser angle
during the first cycle after the event. This error is extended by
60ms for ROCOPA analysis and another 60ms extension for
acceleration analysis. As shown in Fig. 8, the error propagates
to 140ms after the event. However, the polarities of
acceleration remain the same until to at least 0.9s for all
situations (polarity becomes 0 at 0.9s for 1% power
imbalance). For fault events, the polarities of acceleration all
obviously cross 0 between 70ms and 110ms after the fault.
For fault clearance, there is a relatively larger impact than
fault initiation: all curves cross the 0 polarity three times
around 0.83s (80ms after clearing), 0.9s (150ms after clearing)
and 0.96s (210ms after clearing). For load switching events,
the polarity changes are easy to identify as they cross x axis at
almost the same points (80ms after the event for the first time
and 470ms for the second) for all load changes. It is clear that
there are clearly discernible patterns in behaviour for each of
the three different types of events investigated.

From this analysis, a polarity blocking scheme may be
applied in combination with ROCOF to enhance the
sensitivity and stability of the ROCOG scheme. As ROCOF
may suffer from false tripping due to local fault events, a
polarity indicator may send a blocking signal to restrict
ROCOF relays from operation when a fault is detected from
ROCOPA behaviour.
5 Conclusion
This paper has reviewed typical applications of PMU in
distribution systems and proposed a new anti-islanding
technique scheme which could be used to enhance the
stability of ROCOF techniques during network faults and load
transients. The operation of the developed function has been
tested using three types of events: islanding (to test
sensitivity); fault events; and load switching operations (the
latter two events test the stability of the islanding detection
scheme). ROCOF relays represent a compromise between
sensitivity to true islanding event and stability during
non-islanding transients such as large load changes and/or
network faults. False tripping during network faults remains a
problem, however, as does sensitivity to true islanding events
where the local load and the generator output(s) are closely
matched prior to islanding. The blocking scheme, using
polarity change of phase angle acceleration, has been
developed and reported in this paper and has been shown to
enhance the stability of ROCOF relays during fault events.
PMUs can be implemented at DG terminals (or at a strategic
location(s) within a potentially islanded section of network) to
provide high-precision measurements of frequency and
voltage angle to facilitate this detection method. Future work
is dedicated to on-going development and exhaustive of this
method using actual PMU systems in a laboratory
environment.


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