A practical approach to improve network observability

For the reliability regions to reliably and securely operate the network and for the Independent System Operators to facilitate effective operation of real time energy market, the real time flows of the system need to known. These flows are calculated based on the real time model made from the real time measurements and the static system information. Observability of the system needs to be increased to increase the accuracy of the estimated states, the extend of which determines how efficiency the system can be operated. The presently available methods for placing RTUs are analyzed and areas that need to be improved for applying these methods to a control area under an ISO or reliability region are identified. A practical approach for finding out minimal number of RTUs and their optimal location are proposed. The new approach is implemented and results are given to the transmission owners for implementing the RTU configuration