Analysis of Synchrophasor Data Captured Under Faults on 500 kV Overhead Lines Through Available Transient Waveforms

Abstract

Fault location (FL) on high voltage transmission lines has been one of the extensively discussed topics in power system research. Accurate FL can reduce line outage time and, as a consequence, minimize damage to the power system and electric power consumers. Considerable advances in digital relaying and power system automation allow implementing more and more complex FL algorithms. Phasor measurement units (PMUs) were not meant to capture characteristics of electromagnetic transients such as those caused by a fault. However, quite a few publications have focused on synchrophasor-based fault location. Many advanced algorithms have been proposed but there seems to be a lack of real-field data to support conclusions drawn by the authors.This research is devoted to the analysis of real-world measurements captured by class M PMUs during single line-to-ground faults on extra-high voltage lines, as well as phasors computed by a real-time digital simulator and production-grade PMUs. The corresponding transient waveforms make it possible to assess whether or not a typical PMU would be capable of catching the “true” phasor magnitude given a very limited time until the fault clearance. The obtained results indicate that even class M PMUs (in compliance with IEC/IEEE 60255-118-1-2018) have enough time to compute a phasor magnitude with acceptable accuracy. The conducted analysis is deemed to promote the development of advanced synchrophasor-based algorithms for power system transient analysis including but not limited to transmission line FL.