Cenace's experiences on implementing a wide area monitoring system (WAMS) in the Ecuadorian power system

The improvement of synchronized phasor measurement technology has enabled the development of new methodologies in order to monitor, in real time, high stressed operating conditions that might eventually cause problems of steady-state angle or voltage stability, as well as oscillatory stability risks. In this paper, the main components of the wide area monitoring system (WAMS) and phasor measurement in electric power systems are described. Then, a description of the WAMS system installed in the electric system of Ecuador is presented. A summary of the experiences of the Ecuadorian ISO (Centro Nacional de Control de Energía - CENACE) as regards WAMS implementation is presented. These experiences include the installation of 22 phasor measurement units (PMU), a high speed communication system based in optical fiber, and a phasor data concentrator (PDC) located in the control center. PDC functions are: to manage the phasor information and to provide dynamic monitoring applications (among which are the monitoring of steady-state angle and voltage stabilities and oscillatory stability). Finally, each of the stability monitoring applications is described and some analyses of the information obtained from the installed WAMS system are performed, presenting also the first results. These analyses will allow future operative and process design improvements, both in the planning and operation in real time, which will lead to optimize the security and reliability of operation.