A method for monitoring the load margin of power systems under load growth variations

Abstract

The load margin is an important safety measure used in operation centers to assess the voltage stability of power systems. Usually this measure is calculated considering a single load growth direction and voltage stability requirements. However, oscillation modes with low damping rates can compromise the small-signal stability of power systems and different load growth directions can also affect load margin estimates. Thus, these two factors must be considered to provide adequate load margin for power system operation. This paper proposes a load margin monitoring scheme based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) considering voltage stability requirements and small-signal stability and load growth variations. Thus, the power system operator will have real-time load margin information considering voltage stability requirements and small-signal stability requirements. ANN uses as input data the voltage magnitude and voltage angle measurements provided by Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) installed in system buses. A method to select a reduced set of buses for the monitoring system is proposed and evaluated. Case studies are presented and the results achieved provide indications of the applicability of the proposed scheme in the real-time operation of power systems.