Optimal PMU placement for power system observability using binary particle swarm optimization and considering measurement redundancy

This study presents a binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) based methodology for the optimal placement of phasor measurement units (PMUs) when using a mixed measurement set. The optimal PMU placement problem is formulated to minimize the number of PMUs installation subject to full network observability and to maximize the measurement redundancy at the power system buses. In order to ensure full network observability in an electric power network the topology-based algorithm is used and Several factors considered: such as the available data from existing conventional measurements, the number and location of zero injection buses, the number and location of installed PMUs and of course, the system topology. The efficiency of the proposed method is verified by the simulation results of IEEE 14-bus, 30-bus, 57-bus-118 bus systems, respectively. The results show that the whole system can be observable with installing PMUs on less than 25% of system buses. For verification of our proposed method, the results are compared with some newly reported methods which show the method as a novel solution to obtain redundant measurement system with the least number of phasor measurement units. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.