This paper is to be presented at the upcoming Annual Georgia Tech Fault and Disturbance Conference, April 28-29 in Atlanta. It describes deployment and evolution of a system for automated analysis of transmission line faults implemented at CenterPoint Energy in Houston, Texas. The conference information is available at the following link.

ABSTRACT:

This paper describes the evolution of a system for automated analysis of transmission line faults. The analysis is based on the substation data primarily collected from digital fault recorders. The paper provides a historical overview of the implementation steps and illustrates requirements changes throughout the process.

In addition, the paper shares some interesting experiences related to the usage of the system that illustrate the value and benefits of having the automated fault analysis solution in place. The encounters include events developed during hurricanes Rita and Ike, as well as events during dry weather in 2011. The solution for automated fault analysis played important role in diagnostics and system restoration process.

Full-blown centralized system solution (configured for ~ 100 IEDs)

This paper addresses implementation requirements for a fully automated substation data integration and fault analysis for power system transmission lines. The approach is based on measurements from substation intelligent electronic device recordings. The proposed architecture provides a transparent approach to substation data management, analytics functions, as well as the visualization of the integrated data and analytics results. When combined with an efficient communication and data collection scheme, the solution
bridges the gap between traditionally separated non-operational and operational data. The fault analytics results, traditionally obtained through off-line manual process, can now be used in an automated way to support on-line decisions when operating or restoring the power system. The solution is open for further expansions and interfacing to third-party systems. The paper illustrates implementation examples and provides initial in-house and field test results.

Data Integration and Implementation Framework

The paper is published in International Transactions on Electrical Energy Systems  journal. Please visit Wiley Online to access the full paper.