Wide-area monitoring and control at Hydro-Quebec: past, present and future

TLDR

A state‑of‑the‑art eight‑PMU wide‑area monitoring system, commissioned in 2004, feeds the EMS with GPS‑synchronised angles, frequencies, and harmonic distortion measurements from key 735‑kV buses. This paper recalls Hydro‑Quebec’s 30‑year history of wide‑area measurements and outlines future research to develop advanced applications that extend power transfer limits through targeted control actions. The system is employed for frequency‑regulation reporting and preventive measures against geomagnetic storms, while the Hydro‑Quebec research institute and TransEnergie are developing applications to initiate targeted control actions for transient and long‑term stability. Wide‑area control of static VAr compensators markedly improves first‑swing stability margins, and preliminary results indicate that a measurement‑based secondary voltage control of dynamic shunt compensators is promising.

Abstract

This paper recalls the 30-year history of wide-area measurements at Hydro-Quebec. At present, a state-of-the art, eight-PMU-based wide-area monitoring system commissioned in 2004 is on line, feeding the EMS with GPS-synchronized angles, frequencies, and harmonic distortion measurements from key 735-kV buses. Specific to Hydro-Quebec is the current use of one such system for frequency regulation reporting and control-room implementation of preventive measures against geomagnetic storm-induced contingencies. Building on this experience, the Hydro-Quebec research institute, together with TransEnergie, is developing advanced applications which, in the long term, will go beyond active monitoring to safely initiate targeted control actions aimed at extending system power transfer limits with respect to both transient and long-term stability. In addition to the major improvement in inter-area mode damping shown previously by the authors, this paper demonstrates that, surprisingly, wide-area control of static VAr compensators (SVC) will also vastly extend the first-swing stability margins. Finally, initial results on a wide-area measurement-based secondary voltage control of the extensive park of dynamic shunt compensators in our grid using a single pilot voltage from the load center are very encouraging