Detection of oscillations in power systems using Kalman filtering techniques

This paper addresses online estimation of electromechanical oscillatory modes in power systems using dynamic data such as currents, voltages and angle differences measured on-line across transmission lines. These measurements are provided by newly installed phasor measurement units (PMUs). Here, the collected data are evaluated with the main objective to detect the dominant frequency and damping of oscillations during normal operation of the power system. The goal is to give the transmission operator qualitative and quantitative information about actual oscillations in the power system as well as about related properties, such as stability margins. The approach is demonstrated on a model of a real power system. Several problems and limitations of the approach are pointed out as well.