Design and Evaluation of PMU Performance Measurement and GPS Monitoring System for Power Grid Stabilization

Power grid techniques are distributed over general power systems ranging from power stations to power transmission, power distribution, and users. To monitor and control the elements and performance of a power system in real time in the extensive area of power generation, power transmission, wide-area monitoring (WAM) and control techniques are required (Sattinger et al. 2007). Also, to efficiently operate a power grid, integrated techniques of information and communication technology are required for the application of communication network and relevant equipment, computing, and system control software. WAM should make a precise power grid measurement of more than once per cycle by time synchronization using GPS. By collecting the measurement values of a power grid from substations located at faraway regions through remote communication, the current status of the entire power grid system can be examined. However, for GPS that is used in general national industries, unexpected dangerous situations have occurred due to its deterioration and jamming. Currently, the power grid is based on a synchronization system using GPS. Thus, interruption of the time synchronization system of the power system due to the failure or abnormal condition of GPS would have enormous effects on each field such as economy, security, and the lives of the public due to the destruction of the synchronization system of the national power grid. Developed countries have an emergency substitute system in preparation for this abnormal situation of GPS. Therefore, in Korea, a system that is used to prepare for the interruption of GPS reception should also be established on a long-term basis; but prior to this, it is required that an evaluation technique for the time synchronization performance of a GPS receiver using an atomic clock within the power grid. In this study, a monitoring system of time synchronization based on GPS at a power grid was implemented, and the results were presented.