Localizing Single and Multiple Oscillatory Sources: A Frequency Divider Approach

Localizing sources of troublesome oscillations, particularly forced oscillations (FOs), in power systems has received considerable attention over the last few years. This is driven in part by the massive deployment of phasor measurement units (PMUs) that capture these oscillations when they occur; and in part by the increasing incidents of FOs due to malfunctioning components, wind power fluctuations, and/or cyclic loads. Capitalizing on the frequency divider formula of [1], we develop methods to localize single and multiple oscillatory sources using bus frequency measurements. The method to localize a single oscillation source does not require knowledge of network parameters. However, the method for localizing FOs caused by multiple sources requires this knowledge. We explain the reasoning behind this knowledge difference as well as demonstrate the success of our methods for source localization in multiple test systems.