Optimal placement of phasor measurement units: A literature review

The increasing availability of phasor measurement units (PMUs) at substations enables the synchronized measurements to various applications, such as the monitoring of system state under normal operations or the protection and control of power systems during abnormal operation. The objective of the optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem is to determine a minimal set of PMUs such that the whole system is observable. To solve the OPP problem, mathematical programming, heuristic, and meta-heuristic optimization techniques, have been proposed. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review on the OPP problem and the solution methodologies. Due to the vast number of publications in this field, the most representative papers are reviewed.