Novel Usage of Synchrophasors for System Improvement: An Experience in Northern Grid of India

The advent of new technologies like Synchrophasors have given the operator an extra edge. Apart from usage for post disturbance analysis, the synchrophasor based inputs are also becoming an integral part of applications for enhancing the real-time visibility of power system as well. In India, since its inception, with very few Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) in place, the synchrophasor technology has been used extensively at the Regional and National Load Despatch Centres. Through synchrophasor inputs from various locations, the power system operator is observing the voltage, current, frequency, phase angle thereby deducing the system health. The early detection of problem with single phase auto-reclosing during single phase to ground faults in transmission system, Capacitive Voltage Transformer (CVT) health and visualization of black start exercises at control centers have been some of the challenges in power system operation. This paper discusses the new effective usage of synchrophasors and wide area monitoring at Northern Regional control centre in overcoming these challenges for power system improvements.