Bandwidth and Latency Requirements for Smart Transmission Grid Applications

The rapid increase of phasor measurements on the high voltage power system has opened opportunities for new applications to enhance the operation of the grid. To take advantage of the high sampling rates of these measurement data, these applications will require a high-bandwidth, networked communication system. The specifications for this next generation communication system that will overlay the continental power grids are under intense discussion at this time by organizations like the North-American Synchro-Phasor Initiative (NASPI). In this paper we present a method to simulate, design and test the adequacy of a communication system for a particular transmission grid. The main difference from typical communication system studies is that we formulate the communication requirements from the power grid application requirements, that is, the communication design, simulation and testing is from the viewpoint of the anticipated power applications. The method is demonstrated on a WECC 225 bus and a Polish 2383 bus transmission system models.