PMU Testing and Installation Considerations at the Bonneville Power Administration

BPA has a real-time phasor measurement system with more than 22 PMUs installed in substations feeding data to a control center. To assure the quality and accuracy of the measurement, BPA has developed an extensive test plan for PMUs. From simple beginnings of basic tests, these procedures have continually evolved with both the variety of PMU equipment and applications for which the data was used. Current test methods under development are aimed for more comprehensive characterization of PMU measurement and test process simplification. Basic test procedures assure steady state accuracy of magnitude, phase, and frequency measurement. Dynamic testing includes step changes to magnitude, phase and frequency as well as signals modulated on the power (60 Hz) waveform. These tests characterize speed of response, reproduction of measured values, and rejection of interference. All these effects have an analogy in the actual power system, so the results can be reasonably applied. Developing methods simplify the generation of test signals and analysis of results. A goal is to test for all measurement aspects that may create a problem and correct these before deployment. In addition, determining characteristics that can be used to adjust all measurements to the same basis will enable the performance of precision analysis regardless of the make or model of PMUs that are making the measurements.