Applying power domination with hybrid search to optimal PMU placement problems

The aim of the optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem is to minimize the number of PMUs and to ensure the complete observability of the entire power grid simultaneously. A hybrid two-phase algorithm for this problem is proposed. In phase 1, based on the graph-theoretic approach for the power domination (PD) problem in sparse graphs, possible locations of PMUs derived by a decomposition technique are quickly identified. In the second phase, the minimum number of PMUs can be achieved by using a local search heuristic method, the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm. By using similar approaches for treating the zero injection node for further reducing the number of PMUs, all load buses are assumed to be described by ZIP load models. The hybrid algorithm can be applied with minor modifications. Numerical studies on various IEEE test systems are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and superior performances of the proposed algorithm.