Experimental Characterization of Methods for Connecting Real-Time Simulations and Synchrophasors

Wide area monitoring, protection and control systems will likely be implemented in future transmission control rooms and will be essential to ensure the correct operation of the power systems. These solutions will heavily rely on the application of Phasor Measurement Units and synchrophasors. Thus, it is critical that any algorithm implementation is extensively tested in advance covering any possible operative scenario. Hardware in the Loop testing can be a very effective approach to test algorithm implementations in a realistic but virtual and fully controllable environment. This implies the necessity of combining synchrophasors, and PMU hardware with real-time simulations. This paper examines three alternative approaches for combining synchrophasors with a real-time simulation platform. Further-more, an experimental setup where these approaches have been implemented and tested is described.