Optimal placement of Phasor Measurement Unit considering System Observability Redundancy Index: case study of the Kenya power transmission network

Modern power systems require advanced monitoring and control, a capability made possible by Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) aided by synchrophasor technology. Because PMUs have significant costs, it is necessary to optimally place them in an electrical power network. This paper proposes the Optimal PMU Placement (OPP) on the Kenya Power Transmission Network (Nairobi Region 30-bus system) using the existing methods; The Depth-First method, the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) using intlinprog solver, and the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm. The algorithms are first implemented on the IEEE-14 and 30 bus test systems for verification before implementing the Kenya Power Transmission Network (Nairobi Region 30-bus system). Finally, the results for the three methods are compared. A key consideration is the System Observability Redundancy Index (SORI) under normal baseload conditions, with and without the inclusion of Zero Injection Buses (ZIBs). A higher value of SORI increases the measurement redundancy of the PMUs installed at a given bus. This paper further proposes the modelling of ZIB with adjacent buses by considering their Observability Index (OI). The case studies are modelled in Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT), and the simulations are carried out in MATLAB. From the simulation results, the ABC algorithm gives the optimal solution with the highest SORI compared to the Depth-First method and MILP, with the exclusion of the ZIB. The Nairobi region 30-bus system require 12 PMUs located at buses; 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 21, 24, 27 and 29 for complete power system observability with a SORI of 43.