A Multi-objective PMU Placement Method in Power System via Binary Gravitational Search Algorithm

Abstract

This paper presents a Binary Gravitational Search Algorithm (BGSA) methodology for the optimal placement of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) to achieve full and maximum observability of the power system. The gravitational search technique has been extended in this investigation to incorporate binary variables for this purpose. The objective of proposed methodology is to minimize the total number of PMUs installed at various buses, which in turn minimize installation cost of the PMUs and improves observability redundancy by including an additional objective. Thus, the PMU placement problem has been expressed as a multi-objective problem. Besides, single PMU outage or single line outage cases in the presence of zero injection buses have been investigated. In this algorithm, the searcher agents are the collection of masses, which interact with each other using Newton's laws of gravity and motion. The proposed BGSA has been applied to the IEEE 14-bus, -30-bus, -118-bus, Northern Regional Power Grid 246-bus Indian system, and Polish 2383-bus system. Case studies reveal that the lower number of PMUs or equal number of PMUs has been produced by the proposed method compared to methods reported in the literature. In cases of equal number of PMUs, the observability produced by proposed method is higher or at least equal.

Keywords::

• phasor measurement unit
• law of gravity
• law of motion
• binary gravitational search algorithm
• observability
• optimal placement
• contingency

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Satyendra Pratap Singh

Satyendra Pratap Singh received the B.Tech degree in electrical engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow, India, and the M.E degree in power system and electric drives from Thapar University, Patiala, India, in 2007 and 2009, respectively. He is currently a Full-Time Researcher in the field of power system at Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, Varanasi, India. His research interests include wide area measurement system, voltage stability, application of optimization techniques, and applications of AI in power system optimization.

Shiv Pujan Singh

Shiv Pujan Singh received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Allahabad University (presently MNNIT Allahabad), Allahabad, India, in 1978 and 1981, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, in 1990. He was Post-Doctoral scholar as BOYSCAST fellow with the University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada during 1993–1994 for one year and a visiting fellow under Royal Society-INSA fellowship at the Brunel University, U.K., in 2004 for three months. He joined the Electrical Engineering Department of Banaras Hindu University as Lecturer in 1981, where he is currently a Professor. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India), Senior Member of IEEE (USA) since 1994 and life member of Systems Society of India. His research interests include optimal operations of power systems, deregulation and electricity market, distribution automation, wide area measurements, smart grid, and AI applications to power systems.