Implementation of Advanced Real-Time Simulation Platform for Testing and Validation of PMU-Based Applications in Large-Scale Power System

Abstract

This paper presents the implementation of an advanced real-time simulation platform as an effective approach for testing and validation of PMU-based applications. At present, many PMU-based applications, such as linear state estimator (LSE), is still in active development and have not been widely implemented in large-scale power systems as it requires the installation of a large number of PMUs to achieve a state estimator exclusively based on PMU measurements. To ensure the successful deployment of such a large-scale and complex system, it requires thorough testing and validation to evaluate its performance and reliability in different scenarios. However, the complexity of performing comprehensive system-level testing through large-scale integration of PMU devices with the interoperability of various smart grid applications remains a unique challenge making the functionality and performance of LSE in an operational power system environment difficult to fully evaluate and demonstrate. Therefore, the digital real-time power system simulator has enabled comprehensive real-time testing and validation of LSE to be implemented and analysis can be performed efficiently in different scenarios and grid conditions within a safe environment. The results indicate that the implementation of this advanced real-time simulation platform significantly reduces the time required to discover practical problems that arise and enables any rectification work to be determined and applied immediately, thus reducing the risk of system failure and enhancing the integrity of the PMU-based linear state estimator for actual system deployment.