Synchronized Phasor Measurement in Smart Grid Situational Awareness

Situational awareness (SA) is recognized as a key functionality in smart grids. With the large scale deployment of synchronized phasor measurements in the United States and worldwide, wide-area situational awareness is greatly improved due to the high sampling speed, new granularity of phasor values, and time synchronization. Synchronized measurements enhance the monitoring of overall bulk power system dynamic behavior; providing critical information for understanding and responding to power system disturbances. In this chapter, an overview of successful synchrophasor applications to enhance situational awareness is discussed. Topics include event triggering, event size estimation, event location, oscillation detection and modal analysis for disturbances impacting the bulk power system. Real-time wide-area frequency and phase angle visualization will also be discussed. Several examples of wide area situational awareness in the North American power grid are given. Future challenges and trends are discussed.