Automatic implementation of Prony analysis for electromechanical mode identification from phasor measurements

Small signal stability problems are one of the major threats to grid stability and reliability. Prony analysis has been successfully applied on ringdown data to monitor electromechanical modes of a power system using phasor measurement unit (PMU) data. To facilitate an on-line application of mode estimation, this paper develops a recursive algorithm for implementing Prony analysis and propose an oscillation detection method to detect ringdown data in real time. By automatically detecting ringdown data, the proposed method helps to guarantee that Prony analysis is properly and timely applied on the ringdown data. Thus, the mode estimation results can be performed reliably and timely. The proposed method is tested using Monte Carlo simulations based on a 17-machine model and is shown to be able to properly identify the oscillation data for on-line application of Prony analysis.