PNNL

Abstract

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is developing a technique to analyze Phasor Measurement Unit data to identify typical patterns, atypical events and precursors to a blackout or other undesirable event. The approach combines a data-driven multivariate analysis with an engineering-model approach. The method identifies atypical events, provides a plane English description of the event, and the capability to use drill-down graphics for detailed investigations. The tool can be applied to the entire grid, individual organizations (e.g. TVA, BPA), or specific substations (e.g., TVA_CUMB). The tool is envisioned for (1) event investigations, (2) overnight processing to generate a Morning Report that characterizes the previous days activity with respect to previous activity over the previous 10-30 days, and (3) potentially near-real-time operation to support the grid operators. This paper presents the current status of the tool and illustrations of its application to real world PMU data collected in three 10-day periods in 2007.