Confidence Metrics for Regional Forced Oscillation Source Localization

Oscillation monitoring and mitigation are important aspects of reliable bulk power system operation. Forced oscillations, which occur when a piece of equipment injects oscillations into the system, can at times be observed across wide areas, making identification of the source challenging. A phasor measurement unit (PMU)-based wide-area monitoring system capable of identifying the region of the grid containing the source of a forced oscillation was recently deployed for testing in the United State’s Eastern Interconnection (EI). The system was designed to operate under real-world constraints, such as PMU data being permanently or temporarily unavailable from some locations. The impact of unavailable data was reflected in a confidence assessment that accompanied oscillation notifications. The metrics used to form this assessment are presented in this paper and validated using thousands of trials from a publicly available test case library of simulated measurements. The results demonstrate that the proposed metrics can help system operators evaluate the veracity of notifications from the source localization system.