Thursday, April 9, 2009
Sponsored by the Power Engineering Society, Kansas City Chapter

Program: Title: Something Good Resulted from the Blackout of 2003 - Synchrophasors

Presenter: Mike Kelly, University of Missouri, Kansas City

Phasors are representations of alternating current and voltage waveforms coined by Charles Proteus Steinmetz in 1893. With the invention of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in 1988, Steinmetz’s technique of phasor calculation evolved into the calculation of real time phasor measurements that are synchronized to an absolute time reference provided by Global positioning satellites.

Modern high speed PMUs can be used to monitor power phasors and in some cases respond to them. With large numbers of PMUs and the ability to compare shapes from alternating current readings everywhere on the grid, research suggests that automated systems will be able to revolutionize the management of power systems by responding to system conditions in a rapid, dynamic fashion with future implications to replace many protective and operational relaying systems.

Many in the power systems engineering community believe that the Northeast blackout of 2003 would have been contained to a much smaller area if a wide area phasor measurement network had been in place. It seems to follow that Synchrophasors applications have progressed from simple visualization in their infancy to real-time control systems of today. This presentation will define the terms and illustrate the growth and the future potential of this fascinating science made possible by combining power, electronics, communication and ingenuity.

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