Applications of PMUs in Power Distribution Networks with Distributed Generation

Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) have the potential to play an essential role in power system monitoring, protection and control in the future. Their ability to directly measure and provide synchronized measurements of voltage and current phasors at various system locations offer numerous possibilities for ascertaining information relating to the state and health of the power system. This paper focuses on existing and potential future applications of PMUs in distribution networks. As increasing amounts of distributed generators (DG) connect to such networks, bi-directional power flow and generally more complicated network behaviour will be exhibited during normal, transient and fault conditions. This is in contrast to the relatively simple and predictable behaviour of traditional radial networks. Thus, higher level of performance and optimum (from both economic and technical perspectives) placement of PMUs throughout the system may be required. Typical applications of PMUs in distributed networks include state estimation, dynamic supervision, instability prediction and control, protection and fault location, and power quality monitoring. This paper reviews the basic theory of PMU operation and summarises research related to PMU application in the fields listed previously. Future activities in the project will also be presented; the project has access to PMU data, real time simulation facilities and a number of physical PMUs. Accordingly, plans for investigating the potential for demonstrating additional novel functions using PMUs will be discussed.