Online computation of power system linear sensitivity distribution factors

Linear sensitivity distribution factors (DFs) are commonly used in power systems analyses, e.g., to determine whether or not the system is N-1 secure. This paper proposes a method to compute linear sensitivity distribution factors (DFs) in near real-time without relying on the system power flow model. Instead, through linear least-squares estimation (LSE), the proposed method only uses high-frequency synchronized data collected from phasor measurement units (PMUs) to estimate the injection shift factors (ISFs). Subsequently, ISFs can be used to compute other DFs. Such a measurement-based approach is desirable since it is adaptive to changes in system operating point and topology. We illustrate the value of the proposed measurement-based DF estimation approach over the traditional model-based method through several examples.