A neural network based wide area monitor for a power system

With the deregulation of power industry, many tie lines between control areas are driven to operate near their maximum capacity, especially those serving heavy load centers. Wide area controllers (WACs) using wide-area or global signals can provide remote auxiliary control signals to local controllers such as automatic voltage regulators, power system stabilizers, etc to damp out inter-area oscillations. The power system is highly nonlinear system with fast changing dynamics. In order to have an efficient WAC, an online system monitor/predictor is required to provide inter-area information to the WAC from time to time. This paper presents the design of an online wide area monitor (WAM) using a neural network called the wide area neuroidentifier (WANI). The WANI is used to predict ahead the speed deviations of generators in the different areas using phasor measurement unit (PMU). Results are presented to show the effectiveness of the wide area monitor for different disturbances.