ABSTRACT
Wide area monitoring, protection and control (WAMPAC) includes grid visualization, analytics, and protection/control tools for monitoring and preserving system integrity during normal operating conditions and after a disturbance. Typically, this requires system-wide measurements from widely dispersed data acquisition field equipment, and a communication infrastructure designed to collect and transmit the information from the field devices to a central location (control centre) where this information is processed and decisions/control signals are communicated to actuation devices in the field. Existing WAMPAC systems use supervisory, control, and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that usually have a slow sampling rate and slow polling (reporting) rate, and are not synchronized at the point of acquisition. Recently, advances have been made in the design and development of WAMPAC systems that are based on synchrophasor measurements from phasor measurement units. Synchrophasors can provide real-time situational awareness, thus maintaining a secure and reliable grid. Various aspects of the design, development, and application of WAMPAC systems are presented and discussed in this chapter.
