Two-Stage Fault Location Detection Using PMU Voltage Measurements in Transmission Networks

Fault location detection plays a crucial role in power transmission network, especially on security, stabilization and economic aspects. Accurate fault location detection in transmission network helps to speed up the restoration time, therefore, reduce the outage time and improve the system reliability [1]. With the development of Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) and Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), various fault location algorithms have been proposed.

The purpose of this work is to determine, modify and test the most appropriate fault location method which can be implemented with a PMU only linear state estimator. The thesis reviews several proposed fault location methods, such as, one-terminal [2], multi-terminal [3]-[11] and travelling wavelets methods [12]-[13]. A Two-stage fault location algorithm using PMU voltage measurements proposed by Q. Jiang [14] is identified as the best option for adaption to operate with a linear state estimator. The algorithm is discussed in details and several case studies are made to evaluate its effectiveness. The algorithm is shown to be easy to implement and adapt for operation with a linear state estimator. It only requires a limited number of PMU measurements, which makes it more practical than other existing methods. The algorithm is adapted and successfully tested on a real linear state estimator monitored high voltage transmission network.