arXiv subjects

Anamitra Pal

Publications and source records attributed to Anamitra Pal.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

A Micro-PMU Placement Scheme for Distribution Systems Considering Practical Constraints

This paper presents an innovative approach to micro-phasor measurement unit (micro-PMU) placement in unbalanced distribution networks. The methodology accounts for the presence of single-and-two-phase laterals and acknowledges the fact that observing one phase in a distribution circuit does not translate to observing the other phases. Other practical constraints such as presence of distributed loads, unknown regulator/ transformer tap ratios, zero-injection phases (ZIPs), modern smart meters, and multiple switch configurations are also incorporated. The proposed micro-PMU placement problem is solved using integer linear programming (ILP), guaranteeing optimality of results. The uniqueness of the developed algorithm is that it not only minimizes the micro-PMU installations, but also identifies the minimum number of phases that must be monitored by them.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

A Fixed-Flexible BESS Allocation Scheme for Transmission Networks Considering Uncertainties

Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) can play a key role in mitigating the intermittency and uncertainty associated with adding large amounts of renewable energy to the bulk power system (BPS). Two BESS technologies that have gained prominence in this regard are Lithium-ion (LI) BESS and Vanadium redox flow (VRF) BESS. This paper proposes a fixed-flexible BESS allocation scheme that exploits the complementary characteristics of LI and VRF BESSs to attain optimal techno-economic benefits in a wind-integrated BPS. Studies carried out on relatively large transmission networks demonstrate that benefits such as reduction in system operation cost, wind spillage, voltage fluctuations, and discounted payback period, can be realized by using the proposed scheme.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2020

A Graph Theoretic Approach to Power System Vulnerability Identification

During major power system disturbances, when multiple component outages occur in rapid succession, it becomes crucial to quickly identify the transmission interconnections that have limited power transfer capability. Understanding the impact of an outage on these critical interconnections (called saturated cut-sets) is important for enhancing situational awareness and taking correct actions. This paper proposes a new graph theoretic approach for analyzing whether a contingency will create a saturated cut-set in a meshed power network. A novel feature of the proposed algorithm is that it lowers the solution time significantly making the approach viable for real-time operations. It also indicates the minimum amount by which the power transfer through the critical interconnections should be reduced so that post-contingency saturation does not occur. Robustness of the proposed algorithm for enhanced situational awareness is demonstrated using the IEEE-118 bus system as well as a 17,000+ bus model of the Western Interconnection (WI). Comparisons made with different approaches for power system vulnerability assessment prove the utility of the proposed scheme for aiding power system operations during extreme exigencies.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

Adaptive LVRT Settings Adjustment for Enhancing Voltage Security of Renewable-Rich Electric Grids

Inverter based renewable generation (RG), especially at the distribution level, is supposed to trip offline during an islanding situation. However, islanding detection is done by comparing the voltage and frequency measurements at the point of common coupling (PCC), with limits defined in the form of ride-through curves. Current practice is to use the same limit throughout the year independent of the operating conditions. This could result in the tripping of RG at times when the system is already weak, thereby posing a threat to voltage security by heavily limiting the load margin (LM). Conversely, heavily relaxing these limits would result in scenarios where the generation does not go offline even during an islanding situation. The proposed methodology focuses on optimizing low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) settings at selective RGs as a preventive control for maintaining a desired steady-state voltage stability margin while not sacrificing dependability during islanding. The proposed process is a multi-stage approach, in which at each stage, a subset of estimated poor-quality solutions is screened out based on various sensitivities. A full continuation power flow (CPFLOW) is only run at the beginning and in the last stage on a handful of remaining candidate solutions, thereby cutting down heavily on the computation time. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on the IEEE 9-bus system.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

A New Model to Analyze Power and Communication System Intra-and-Inter Dependencies

The reliable and resilient operation of the smart grid necessitates a clear understanding of the intra-and-inter dependencies of its power and communication systems. This understanding can only be achieved by accurately depicting the interactions between the different components of these two systems. This paper presents a model, called modified implicative interdependency model (MIIM), for capturing these interactions. Data obtained from a power utility in the U.S. Southwest is used to ensure the validity of the model. The performance of the model for a specific power system application namely, state estimation, is demonstrated using the IEEE 118-bus system. The results indicate that the proposed model is more accurate than its predecessor, the implicative interdependency model (IIM) [1], in predicting the system state in case of failures in the power and/or communication systems.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2019

Critical Clearing Time Sensitivity for Inequality Constrained Systems

With the growth of renewable generation (RG) and the development of associated ride through curves serving as operating limits, during disturbances, on violation of these limits, the power system is at risk of losing large amounts of generation. In order to identify preventive control measures that avoid such scenarios from manifesting, the power system must be modeled as a constrained dynamical system. For such systems, the interplay of feasibility region (man-made limits) and stability region (natural dynamical system response) results in a positively invariant region in state space known as the constrained stability region (CSR). After the occurrence of a disturbance, as it is desirable for the system trajectory to lie within the CSR, critical clearing time (CCT) must be defined with respect to the CSR instead of the stability region as is done traditionally. The sensitivity of CCT to system parameters of constrained systems then becomes beneficial for planning/revising protection settings (which impact feasible region) and/or operation (which impact dynamics). In this paper, we derive the first order CCT sensitivity of generic constrained power systems using the efficient power system trajectory sensitivity computation, pioneered by Hiskens in [1]. The results are illustrated for a single-machine infinite-bus (SMIB) system as well as a multi-machine system in order to gain meaningful insight into the dependence between ability to meet constraints, system stability, and changes occurring in power system parameters, such as, mechanical power input and inertia.

math.DS↗

arXiv2019

A PMU Based Islanding Detection Scheme Immune to Additive Instrumentation Channel Errors

Traditional synchrophasor measurement-based islanding detection techniques have primarily relied on voltage angle measurements and/or their derivatives for successfully detecting islands. However, relatively high instrumentation channel errors associated with phasor measurement unit (PMU) data, can significantly degrade islanding detection accuracies. In this paper, a new islanding detection scheme employing cumulative sum of change in voltage phase angle difference (CUSPAD) is proposed, which is immune to additive instrumentation channel errors in the PMU measurements. The robustness of the proposed islanding detection algorithm is established through application to an 18-bus test system and the IEEE 118-bus system having different wind energy penetration levels. Comparative analysis of the accuracies of the proposed approach (CUSPAD) and the conventional angle difference (AD) approach prove the former's superior performance when additive instrumentation channel errors are present.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2019

Application of Machine Learning for Online Dynamic Security Assessment in Presence of System Variability and Additive Instrumentation Errors

Large-scale blackouts that have occurred in the past few decades have necessitated the need to do extensive research in the field of grid security assessment. With the aid of synchrophasor technology, which uses phasor measurement unit (PMU) data, dynamic security assessment (DSA) can be performed online. However, existing applications of DSA are challenged by variability in system conditions and unaccounted for measurement errors. To overcome these challenges, this research develops a DSA scheme to provide security prediction in real-time for load profiles of different seasons in presence of realistic errors in the PMU measurements. The major contributions of this paper are: (1) develop a DSA scheme based on PMU data, (2) consider seasonal load profiles, (3) account for varying penetrations of renewable generation, and (4) compare the accuracy of different machine learning (ML) algorithms for DSA with and without erroneous measurements. The performance of this approach is tested on the IEEE-118 bus system. Comparative analysis of the accuracies of the ML algorithms under different operating scenarios highlights the importance of considering realistic errors and variability in system conditions while creating a DSA scheme.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2019

Can Predictive Filters Detect Gradually Ramping False Data Injection Attacks Against PMUs?

Intelligently designed false data injection (FDI) attacks have been shown to be able to bypass the $χ^2$-test based bad data detector (BDD), resulting in physical consequences (such as line overloads) in the power system. In this paper, it is shown that if an attack is suddenly injected into the system, a predictive filter with sufficient accuracy is able to detect it. However, an attacker can gradually increase the magnitude of the attack to avoid detection, and still cause damage to the system.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2019

Critical Clearing Time Sensitivity for Inequality Constrained Systems

From a stability perspective, a renewable generation (RG)-rich power system is a constrained system. As the quasistability boundary of a constrained system is structurally very different from that of an unconstrained system, finding the sensitivity of critical clearing time (CCT) to change in system parameters is very beneficial for a constrained power system, especially for planning/revising constraints arising from system protection settings. In this paper, we derive the first order sensitivity of a constrained power system using trajectory sensitivities of fault-on and post-fault trajectories. The results for the test system demonstrate the dependence between ability to meet angle and frequency constraints, and change in power system parameters such as operating conditions and inertia.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2018

Health Monitoring of Critical Power System Equipments using Identifying Codes

High voltage power transformers are one of the most critical equipments in the electric power grid. A sudden failure of a power transformer can significantly disrupt bulk power delivery. Before a transformer reaches its critical failure state, there are indicators which, if monitored periodically, can alert an operator that the transformer is heading towards a failure. One of the indicators is the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the voltage and current signals in substations located in the vicinity of the transformer. During normal operations, the width of the SNR band is small. However, when the transformer heads towards a failure, the widths of the bands increase, reaching their maximum just before the failure actually occurs. This change in width of the SNR can be observed by sensors, such as phasor measurement units (PMUs) located nearby. Identifying Code is a mathematical tool that enables one to uniquely identify one or more {\em objects of interest}, by generating a unique signature corresponding to those objects, which can then be detected by a sensor. In this paper, we first describe how Identifying Code can be utilized for detecting failure of power transformers. Then, we apply this technique to determine the fewest number of sensors needed to uniquely identify failing transformers in different test systems.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2018

Transient Stability Assessment of Cascade Tripping of Renewable Sources Using SOS

There has been significant increase in penetration of renewable generation (RG) sources all over the world. Localized concentration of many such generators could initiate a cascade tripping sequence that might threaten the stability of the entire system. Understanding the impact of cascade tripping process would help the system planner identify trip sequences that must be blocked in order to increase stability. In this work, we attempt to understand the consequences of cascade tripping mechanism through a Lyapunov approach. A conservative definition for the stability region (SR) along with its estimation for a given cascading sequence using sum of squares (SOS) programming is proposed. Finally, a simple probabilistic definition of the SR is used to visualize the risk of instability and understand the impact of blocking trip sequences. A 3-machine system with significant RG penetration is used to demonstrate the idea.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2017

Estimating Relevant Portion of Stability Region using Lyapunov Approach and Sum of Squares

Traditional Lyapunov based transient stability assessment approaches focus on identifying the stability region (SR) of the equilibrium point under study. When trying to estimate this region using Lyapunov functions, the shape of the final estimate is often limited by the degree of the function chosen, a limitation that results in conservativeness in the estimate of the SR. More conservative the estimate is in a particular region of state space, smaller is the estimate of the critical clearing time for disturbances that drive the system towards that region. In order to reduce this conservativeness, we propose a methodology that uses the disturbance trajectory data to skew the shape of the final Lyapunov based SR estimate. We exploit the advances made in the theory of sum of squares decomposition to algorithmically estimate this region. The effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated on a power systems classical model.

math.DS↗

arXiv2017

Analyzing Effects of Seasonal Variations in Wind Generation and Load on Voltage Profiles

This paper presents a methodology for building daily profiles of wind generation and load for different seasons to assess their impacts on voltage violations. The measurement-based wind models showed very high accuracy when validated against several years of actual wind power data. System load modeling was carried out by analyzing the seasonal trends that occur in residential, commercial, and industrial loads. When the proposed approach was implemented on the IEEE 118-bus system, it could identify violations in bus voltage profiles that the season-independent model could not capture. The results of the proposed approach are expected to provide better visualization of the problems that seasonal variations in wind power and load might cause to the electric power grid.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2017

Stability Region Estimation Under Low Voltage Ride Through Constraints using Sum of Squares

The increasing penetration of inverter based renewable generation (RG) in the form of solar photo-voltaic (PV) or wind has introduced numerous operational challenges and uncertainties. According to the standards, these generators are made to trip offline if their operating requirements are not met. In an RG-rich system, this might alter the system dynamics and/or cause shifting of the equilibrium points to the extent that a cascaded tripping scenario is manifested. The present work attempts at avoiding such scenarios by estimating the constrained stability region (CSR) inside which the system must operate using maximal level set of a Lyapunov function estimated through sum of squares (SOS) technique. A time-independent conservative approximation of the LVRT constraint is initially derived for a classical model of the power system. The proposed approach is eventually validated by evaluating the stability of a 3 machine test system with trip-able RG.

math.OC↗

arXiv2017

Finding $K$ Contingency List in Power Networks using a New Model of Dependency

Smart grid systems are composed of power and communication network components. The components in either network exhibit complex dependencies on components in its own as well as the other network to drive their functionality. Existing, models fail to capture these complex dependencies. In this paper, we restrict to the dependencies in the power network and propose the Multi-scale Implicative Interdependency Relation (MIIR) model that address the existing limitations. A formal description of the model along with its working dynamics and a brief validation with respect to the 2011 Southwest blackout are provided. Utilizing the MIIR model, the $K$ Contingency List problem is proposed. For a given time instant, the problem solves for a set of $K$ entities in a power network which when failed at that time instant would cause the maximum number of entities to fail eventually. Owing to the problem being NP-complete we devised a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) to obtain the optimal solution and a polynomial time sub-optimal heuristic. The efficacy of the heuristic with respect to the MIP is compared by using different bus system data. In general, the heuristic is shown to provide near optimal solution at a much faster time than the MIP.

eess.SY↗