Enhancing Power Grid Reliability with PMU Placement in Flexibly Rated Cyber-Physical Systems

The conventional electrical system is evolving into smart grids, incorporating Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) for enhanced monitoring and control. Flexible Line Rating (FLR) systems boost transmission line capacity and reliability using real-time temperature data and specialized sensors, with PMUs playing a key role. While PMU placement has been widely studied, its impact on network observability and reliability requires further exploration. This study introduces a synchrophasor-based FLR system and examines how PMU placement and network observability affect FLR-enabled cyber-physical power systems' reliability. Through Sequential Monte Carlo Simulation (SMCS) on modified IEEE RTS-79 and RTS-96 networks, the study finds that increasing PMU redundancy significantly enhances reliability. While deploying PMUs in zero injection cluster (ZIC) scenarios may seem cost-effective, the potential negative effects on network reliability must be considered. Achieving redundancy under the N-1 condition leads to a 96% improvement in network reliability, underscoring the importance of strategic PMU placement in smart grids.