Real-time monitoring of inter-area power oscillation using Phasor Measurement Unit

The inter-area power oscillation stability is a determining factor in the power system design and operation. The stability problem of inter-area power oscillation may cause major system break-up and black-out. This stability condition keeps changing due to the continuously changing of power system operating point and it makes the instability difficult to notice. Therefore, real-time monitoring of inter-area power oscillation plays an important role in maintaining the power system stability. This paper proposes real-time monitoring system of inter-area power oscillation stability by identifying oscillation properties i.e. mode frequency, mode damping, and mode shape. The identification process is based on PMU data. These identification results are then displayed on GUI to assist the power system operator to monitor system condition real-time. The simplified 17 machine Western North American power grid system is used to test the monitoring system. The results show that the realtime monitoring system is able to track the inter-area oscillation properties accurately.