IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2015 - 30

Synchrophasor technology is considered to be
the foundational component of improved situational
awareness and wide-area monitoring systems.

the grid. The need for improved technologies such as phasor
measurement units (PMUs) is accentuated by nationwide
challenges such as an aging infrastructure, the integration
of flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS), and increasing penetration of renewables. In this environment, synchrophasor technology is poised to shine.
Among the leaders in synchrophasor integration are the
regional transmission organization (RTO) PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM), independent system operator (ISO)
New York ISO (NYISO), electric transmission owner (TO)
Dominion Virginia Power (DVP), and engineering consultant and software developer Electric Power Group, LLC
(EPG). PJM's investigation of synchrophasors began eight
years ago as a casual discussion with its TOs and has now
evolved into a network of more than 390 PMUs streaming
46 GB of data to PJM daily. This dramatic shift came about
as a result of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Smart Grid Investment
Grant (SGIG). In 2010, PJM and 12 of its TOs, including
DVP, won a US$27.8 million grant to install PMUs, phasor
data concentrators (PDCs), and a network to bring this data
into the control center for use in a multitude of applications.
DVP's participation in this project was complemented
by an award granted by the DOE during the same time
period to the company and its partners Virginia Tech and
Quanta Technologies to develop and deploy a three-phase
linear-state estimator (LSE) and a suite of synchrophasor-based network applications and visualization. It also

included the installation of additional PMU devices that,
combined with the installations obtained through the
SGIG, gave DVP full observability of its extra-high voltage
transmission network (Figure 1). NYISO also received an
award as part of the SGIG to deploy synchrophasor technology to 41 substations. Since NYISO's inception, it has
taken many steps to facilitate the development of a smart
grid, particularly advances in synchrophasor technology
for enabling enhanced market design and improved reliability and efficiency of the power grid (Figure 2).

Organic Growth Through
Standardized Deployment

Over the last decade, the United States has seen substantial
growth in synchrophasor deployment. While much of this
growth was fueled by government grants, DVP has championed a continued deployment of synchrophasor technology as a component of routine production efforts. Before
the end of its structured, grant-driven rollout of synchrophasors, DVP successfully modified certain design standards
that specify the devices installed or updated in a substation
control house to include PMUs, PMU-enabled relays, and
PDCs. These standards involve any substation where new or
routine project work is performed, resulting in the installation of hundreds of new synchrophasors across DVP's entire
transmission network for fractions of a percent of total capital expenditures. DVP has nearly tripled its original synchrophasor footprint from the original grants and expects continued growth in the future.
Companies like DVP have garnered further help from their RTOs
like PJM, which has also envisioned
ways in which standardized deploySubstations with PMUs
ment makes sense. With input from
(DOE Stimulus Projects)
other participants through the stakeholder process, PJM implemented a
requirement that PMUs and supporting communication must be installed
Substations with PMUs
at new single unit or aggregate gen(VT R&D Project)
erator interconnections with a capacity of 100 MW or greater. While PJM
currently has no requirements for the
Substations Without PMUs
placement of PMUs at existing stations, it would likely seek out PMU
sites based on optimal observability,
locations with stability concerns, and
figure 1. DVP's synchrophasor deployment upon completion of the SGIG.
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