Real-Time Wide Area Event Identification and Analysis in Power Grid Based on EWAMS

Event detection and classification are crucial to power system stability. The Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) technology helps in enhancing wide area situational awareness by providing useful synchronized information to the grid control center in order to accurately identify various power system events. This paper demonstrates the viability of using EWAMS (Egyptian Wide Area Measurement System) data as one of the evolving technologies of smart grid to identify extreme events within the Egyptian power grid. The proposed scheme is based on online synchronized measurements of wide-area monitoring devices known as Frequency Disturbance Recorders (FDRs) deployed at selected substations within the grid. The FDR measures the voltage, voltage angle, and frequency at the substation and streams the processed results to the Helwan University Host Server (HUHS). Each FDR is associated with a timestamp reference to the Global Positioning System (GPS) base. An EWAMS-based frequency disturbance detection algorithm based on the rate of frequency deviation is developed to identify varies types of events such as generator trip and load shedding. Based on proper thresholding on the frequency and rate of change of frequency of the Egyptian grid, different types of events have been captured in many locations during the supervision and monitoring the operation of the grid. EWAMS historical data is used to analyze a wide range of data pre-event, during and post-event for future enhancement of situational awareness as well as decision making.