Using synchrophasor for fault location identification

Recent years have witnessed great improvements in the synchronized phasor measurement unit (PMU) technology. Synchronized measurements of the power system provide insightful data that was not visible prior to having PMU technology. As this technology continues to improve and as its infrastructure continues to grow, more PMU measurement locations are added every year. However, there are still many utility companies with very few synchrophasor points on their systems. Digital relays provide an economical source of these measurements since many relay manufacturers include PMU capabilities in their relays. This paper examines a method to locate faults on transmission lines without having PMU measurements on every bus and branch in the system. Test cases and real fault data is used to examine this method.