Dynamic Estimation of Power System Inertia Distribution Using Synchrophasor Measurements

Integration of intermittent renewable energy sources in modern power systems is increasing very fast. Replacement of synchronous generators with zero-to-low variable renewables substantially decreases the system inertia. In a large system, inertia distribution may vary significantly, areas of low inertia are more susceptible to frequency deviation, posing risks of load shedding and generation trip. Therefore, it is necessary for operators to evaluate and quantify the system inertia and its distribution in real time. This paper proposes a novel synchronized phasor measurement units (PMUs)-based dynamic system inertia estimation method. The proposed inertia estimation method is derived using electrical distance and clustering algorithm, which considers the impact of location of measurements relative to infeed load and impact of oscillations. The center of inertia (COI) area and area of low inertia are also determined during the estimation. Numerical simulations are conducted on the IEEE 24-bus system with various load profiles using Transient Security Analysis Tools (TSAT), a core module of the DSATools, which demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.