Impact of network sparsity on strategic placement of phasor measurement units with fixed channel capacity

This paper investigates the optimal placement of synchronized phasor measurement units (PMU) in order to fully observe a given power system. Optimal placement methods to account for contingencies, loss of measurements as well as existing conventional measurements and zero injections have already been presented in previous publications. What differentiates this study from those already reported in the literature is the fact that it accounts for the number of available channels for the chosen type of PMU. This is shown to be a critical factor in strategic placement of these devices. Furthermore, it is also demonstrated that depending upon the topology of the network, there will be an upper limit on the number of channels for the PMUs beyond which installation costs will not be reduced any further. Results of applying the developed optimization method to systems with different sizes and topologies are presented. The results of this study will be more useful as the number of PMU installations increase to levels that will make the system fully observable based solely on PMUs with different number of channel capacities.