Comparison of PMU placement methods in power systems for voltage stability monitoring

A power system is subject to events that may lead to voltage stability problems, which eventually may lead to black-outs. On-line phasor measurements may allow anticipating situations leading to voltage instabilities; these on-line measurements can be accomplished by using Phasor Measurement Units (PMU). However, for a power system it is is not economical or necessary to install PMU at each bus; in order to avoid this situation it is required to develop a strategy for PMU placement that is useful and convenient, with a limited number of available PMU. This paper presents a review and comparison of some methods for PMU placement in power systems; also, we include a classification according to the type of observability obtained and consider the application of the method. Finally, a method for monitoring voltage stability in power systems is chosen and tested on the IEEE39-bus system using Matlab-PSAT (Power System Analysis Toolbox). © 2015, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. All rights reserved.