A novel comprehensive optimal PMU placement considering

practical issues in design and implementation of a wide-area

measurement system
Citation for published version (APA):
Khodadadi-Arpanahi, M., Torkzadeh, R., Safavizadeh, A., Ashrafzadeh, A., & Eghtedarnia, F. (2023). A novel
comprehensive optimal PMU placement considering practical issues in design and implementation of a wide-
area measurement system. Electric Power Systems Research, 214(Part B), Article 108940.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108940

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 Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Electric Power Systems Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/epsr

A novel comprehensive optimal PMU placement considering practical

issues in design and implementation of a wide-area measurement system
Moossa Khodadadi Arpanahi a, d, *, Roozbeh Torkzadeh b, d, Arash Safavizadeh c,
Ali Ashrafzadeh a, d, Fariborz Eghtedarnia d
a
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
b
Electrical Engineering Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven 5600 MB, the Netherlands
c
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
d
Power System Planning Center, Esfahan Regional Electric Company (EREC), Isfahan 81737-51387, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords:
Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP)
Optimal PMU placement (OPP)
Phasor measurement unit (PMU)
Wide-area measurement system (WAMS)
Since phasor measurement units (PMUs) are increasingly installed in power systems, many research works have
investigated the optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem with the sake of maximizing observability over the
power grid, while minimizing the cost of purchasing PMUs. However, there are still some practical challenges
that have not been considered in the previous research studies, and are needed to be addressed for a real wide-
area measurement system (WAMS) implementation. In this paper, a comprehensive OPP model is proposed
which employs a set of basic and novel constraints for a WAMS design. In this regard, the line-wise observability
concept is proposed for the first time to consider the requirements of observability for a range of WAMS-based
applications such as restoration management, model validation of power system components, and dynamic line
rating (DLR) monitoring. In addition, observability constraints for multi-transmission system operator (multi-
TSO) power systems that are operated by different legal entities are provided, which can considerably affect the
OPP result. The proposed model is formulated based on a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation
which enables the optimization problem to be solved easily and effectively by existing commercial optimization
tools, without any need for linearization. The performance of the proposed OPP model is first verified through
simulation results on an 86-bus real power system. Then, simulations are applied to IEEE 118-bus and 300-bus
test systems, to certify the performance of the proposed model in comparison with other OPPs in the literature.

optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem, where the main purpose that
the majority of these research works have addressed is to minimize the
1. Introduction
number of PMUs or their total purchasing cost [3–9].
From the optimization technique perspective, the OPP methodolo­
A wide-area measurement system (WAMS) ensures a synchronized
gies can be divided into two main groups: meta-heuristic algorithms and
observability with a high resolution over a power grid, which provides a
mathematical methods. The meta-heuristic algorithms include, but are
situational awareness for transmission system operators (TSOs) [1]. In
not limited to, particle swarm optimization (PSO) [10], genetic algo­
this regard, many power system owners are trying to shift their con­
rithm (GA) [11], Tabu search [12], and imperialist competitive algo­
ventional monitoring systems to WAMS integrated ones. Due to special
rithm (ICA) [13]. Additionally, the mathematical methods consist of
characteristics of each grid, a tailor-made solution is indispensable for a
programming methods such as mixed-integer programming (MIP)
WAMS design phase, which is the first inevitable step towards this shift
[14–18], equivalent integer linear programming (EILP) [19], and
[2]. Similar to any conventional monitoring systems, a WAMS needs to
integer quadratic programming (IQP) [20].
have a full- or at least an acceptable-observability level over the power
While most of the presented OPP methods minimize only the number
grid, thus it is essential to locate the measurement units precisely.
of PMUs or the total purchasing cost of required PMUs, there are some
Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are the most essential components of
other OPP models that consider different objective functions. In
a WAMS, which provide precise synchrophasor measurements with a
[21–26], multi-objective OPP models have been presented, which
high reporting rate [1]. Many research works have investigated the

* Correspondence:
E-mail address: moossa.khodadadi@ec.iut.ac.ir (M. Khodadadi Arpanahi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2022.108940
Received 8 January 2022; Received in revised form 11 July 2022; Accepted 28 October 2022
Available online 11 November 2022
0378-7796/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
Nomenclature
Sets and indices
B, L sets of buses and lines.
B in , B 1 , B 2 sets of internal buses of a network and boundary
buses Type-1 and Type-2.
Bo set of buses that should not have PMU.
B g , B M sets of dummy buses of generators and 3-winding
transformers.
LR set of nominated lines for the restoration paths.
L TL− MV set of nominated lines for both TL-MV and DLR monitoring.
T 2, T 3 sets of two- and three-winding transformers.
M,N sets of PMUs and type of PMUs.
i (j), l indices of buses and lines.
b in , b 1 , b 2 indices of internal buses of a network and boundary buses
Type-1 and Type-2.
g indices of dummy buses.
m, n indices of type and number of PMUs.
Parameters
FC, CC fixed cost and channel cost of PMUs.
maximize the measurement redundancy. For instance, authors in [27]
have proposed a three-objective OPP considering the power system
small-signal stability, the probability of system observability, and the
total cost of PMUs. In addition, PMUs and transmission lines outages
[14,15,18], PMUs channel limitations [28], and the usage of conven­
tional measurements [29] have been included in the OPP problems as
additional constraints. Moreover, authors in [30–32], have investigated
the simultaneous placement of both PMUs and communication system
components such as routers, switches, and optical power ground wires.
In [33], an OPP objective function is suggested to maximize the state
estimation accuracy by minimizing the negative impact of bad data. The
OPP formulation proposed in [34] considers the loss of loads, reconfi­
guration of the network after outages, and the relaying functions of
measurement devices in the OPP problem. Also, a multinomial logistic
regression-based OPP has been proposed in [35], which maximizes the
ability of the system for detecting single-line contingencies. In recent
years, the problem of OPP has been investigated considering new as­
pects. Ref. [36] has proposed the concept of observability propagation
depth to enhance the robustness of OPP under contingences using a
bi-level optimization framework. The first level minimizes PMUs num­
ber, and the second level maximizes the observability probability. In
addition, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out in [37] to consider
fault observability which leads to increase the OPP efficiency in
WAMS-based fault location. Authors in [38] have considered the effect
of network parameters including impedances of transmission lines and
transformers on observability of the power system. Ref. [39] has
investigated how to enhance the accuracy of the state estimator in an
existing monitoring system by adding a limited number of PMUs, and an
OPP approach considering non-Gaussian noise and robust state estima­
tors has been developed. Moreover, co-optimization for backbone grid
planning (BGP) and OPP has been studied in [40] to construct a resilient
backbone grid against natural disasters, and at the same time, to ensure
the observability of the power system during disasters.
According to the literature survey, there is still a research gap in the
field of OPP with respect to considering certain practical issues in
design, implementation, and operation of a practical WAMS for a real
power system. In the previous research works, the observability has
been only defined for the power system buses. In this paper, the line-
wise observability concept is proposed for the first time, which en­
ables TSOs to include several practical constraints in OPP besides the
basic ones. In the line-wise observability concept, a line is observable if
2
Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940
a entries of a connection matrix of a power grid, i.e., A.
z binary parameter indicating one bus is a zero-injection bus
or not.
m
Nch,max maximum channel capacity of PMU of type m.
Nmax
m
maximum PMU of type m.
nmax maximum number of PMUs to be installed at each bus.
Nmin minimum channel number of a PMU.
Zs impedance of sth side of a transformer.
YM admittance of core losses and magnetising reactance of a
transformer.
Variables
x binary variable indicating one bus has a PMU or not.
w binary variable indicating one line has a current PMU
channel or not.
X matrix of decision variables.
y binary variable indicating one bus is a zero-injection bus or
not.
Vs , Is voltage phasor and current phasor of sth side of a
transformer.
at least one of its two ending buses is observable. This paves the way for
TSOs to be able to implement various WAMS-based applications,
considering applications’ input requirements, due to the fact that the
performance of these applications could highly be impacted by the
location of PMUs and the measuring signals [41–43].
For example, in case of a power system blackout, the system is
restored from neighboring grids or black-start-capable units via pre-
determined restoration paths. These paths should be directly observ­
able. The observability of each path is equivalent to the observability of
its associated lines. Therefore, to consider the needs of this application,
the observability of restoration paths should be considered by few
constraints in the OPP problem. Additionally, implementation of
measurement-based model validation (MV) for transmission lines, two-
and three-winding transformers, and synchronous generators also dy­
namic line rating (DLR) monitoring is applicable for a sufficient number
of branches only if proper constraints are formulated and considered in
the OPP problem.
In interconnected power systems, each regional system may inde­
pendently be monitored and operated by a TSO. Observability of each
regional grid would depend on the observability of boundary buses
which are operated by the adjacent grids’ operators. Indeed, each TSO
deals with a network consisting of its own grid and the boundary buses,
which are connected to each other through tie-lines. Based on the
cooperation of TSOs in exchanging information of boundary buses, the
solution of OPP problem for each TSO may differ. In fact, the coopera­
tion between neighboring TSOs could lead to different results for
placement of PMUs which can considerably affect the purchasing costs.
Motivated by the aforementioned concerns, a comprehensive OPP
formulation is proposed in this paper. While considering various basic
and newly-added constraints simultaneously, the proposed OPP is
formulated originally as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP)
model without any approximation. Therefore, the linearization of the
model or using of any meta-heuristic algorithms is not required. Thus,
the proposed MILP-based model guarantees achieving the global opti­
mum solution using the available off-the-shelf optimization software
applications.
To sum up, the main contributions of the proposed OPP model are re-
written as follows:
(1) A comprehensive OPP formulation is proposed considering a set
of novel and practical constraints as well as basic constraints,
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

which satisfies the requirements for design and implementation 2.2. Basic constraints
of a real WAMS.
(2) For the first time, the concept of the line-wise observability is The basic constraints provide the minimum requirements for the
presented with the purpose of considering the requirements for power system observability that most OPP models include, such as the
implementation of several WAMS-based applications for power constraints related to observability of buses and PMUs channel
system analysis in a WAMS. limitations.
(3) Observability of multi-TSO power systems is investigated where
based on the cooperation of TSOs in exchanging information the 2.2.1. Bus observability constraint
OPP solution differs. In power systems, a bus could be directly observable if it has its own
(4) While the proposed OPP model considers various basic and measuring devices, or it could be indirectly observable, meaning that it
practical constraints, it is originally a MILP one and its global is observable through some indirect measurements and calculations.
solution can be easily found through various off-the-shelf opti­ Therefore, in the proposed OPP model, the bus observability function
mization tools, without facing any nonlinearity. (O F ) of bus i is defined as
∑∑∑ ∑∑∑
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: The formulation of the O F (i) = a(i, j) w(j, i, m, n) + a(i, j) y(j, i, m, n) (3)
proposed comprehensive OPP model is presented in Section 2. The
j∈B m∈M n∈N j∈B m∈M n∈N

performance of the proposed model is analyzed through simulation re­ where a(i, j) is the entry of the connection matrix A as follows
sults on both real and test power systems in Section 3. Finally, Section 4
concludes the paper. A = [a(i, j)]n×n , a(i, j)= {
1 If i = j or bus i is connected to bus j
(4)
0 If bus i is not connected to bus j
2. Theoretical discussion and proposed method
and n is the total number of buses involved in the OPP problem. Also, y(j,
i, m, n) is an auxiliary binary variable, indicating whether bus i can be
The aim of the proposed OPP is to determine the number of PMUs
observed by the effect of zero-injection bus (ZIB) at bus j (y(j,i,m,n) = 1)
that should be installed in substations of a power system, chosen from a
or not (y(j, i, m, n) = 0).
set of pre-defined PMU types with different technical specifications, i.e.
To explain ZIB effect, bus observability is discussed in details. Bus i is
number of current and voltage channels, fixed and channel costs. The
observable if at least one of the following conditions are satisfied:
solution is gained by minimizing the total PMUs purchasing cost as the
objective function, subjected to a combination of basic and practical
(1) Bus i has a PMU, i.e.
constraints, which makes the OPP problem more comprehensive for a
real WAMS design and implementation. a(i, i) = 1 & ∃ m, n| w(i, i, m, n) = x (i, m, n) = 1

2.1. Objective function

Utilization of multiple PMUs from different types and various man­
ufacturers, which have different features and capabilities, is one of the
practical issues that should be covered in the OPP formulation. In the
proposed OPP model, the goal is to specify each location for PMU
installation with the type and certain specifications of the required PMU.
Therefore, the objective function is described as
(2) Bus i doesn’t have any PMU, but at least one of its adjacent buses
has a PMU, i.e.
∃ j | a(i, j) = 1 & ∃ m, n; w(j, i, m, n) = 1
(3) Bus i is observable through ZIB criteria, i.e.
∃ j | a(i, j) = 1 & ∃ m, n; y(i, i, m, n) = 1

( )
∑∑ ∑ ∑∑ ∑ ∑
Minimize FC(m, n) x (j, m, n) + CC(m, n) w(j, i, m, n) (1)
j∈B m∈M N ∈N j∈B i∈B m∈M n∈N

where m ∈ M and n ∈ N are indices of the type and the number of

PMUs, respectively, and j ∈ B is the index of all buses involved in the
OPP problem. Also, FC(m, n) and CC(m, n) denote fixed cost and channel Note that a ZIB is a bus without any generation or load and the zero-
cost of the n th PMU of type m, in turn. The binary decision variable injection effect can be expressed as
x (j, m, n) indicates either the jth bus of the network has the n th PMU of ∑∑∑
{ (5)
x (5, 1, 3) = 1 a(i, j) y(j, i, m, n) = z(j), ∀j ∈ B
type m (x (j,m,n) = 1) or not (x (j,m,n) = 0). For example,
x (5, 2, 1) = 1 j∈B m∈M n∈N

means that bus 5 has three PMUs of Type 1 and one PMU of Type 2. The
where z(j) is a binary parameter indicating whether bus j is a ZIB (z(j) =
binary decision variable w(j, i, m, n) determines either the n th PMU of type 1) or not (z(j) = 0). Let j be denoted as a ZIB. Observability of j and all
m installed at bus j has any current measurement channel (CMC) for line the buses connected to j except one, makes the remaining bus observable
ij (w(j,i,m,n) = 1) or not (w(j,i,m,n) = 0). Thus, the decision variables of according to the Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) [3,26].
the proposed OPP scheme are as follows Consequently, the observability constraint of the whole network can
[ ] be expressed as
w(j, i, m, n)
X= , ∀i, j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (2)
x (j, m, n) OF (i)
≥ 1, ∀i ∈ B (6)

3
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
2.2.2. PMUs channel number constraint
There are some constraints related to the decision variable w(j, i, m, n)
as follows
w(j, j, m, n) = x (j, m, n), ∀j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (7)
w(j, i, m, n) ≤ x (j, m, n), ∀i, j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (8)
w(j, i, m, n) ≤ a(i, j), ∀i, j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (9)
where variable w(j, j, m, n) indicates the existence of a voltage mea­
surement channel for PMU connected to bus j. In practice, each PMU
should have at least one voltage measurement channel for measuring the
voltage phasor of the bus as a critical state variable. Constraint (7) ex­
presses that each installed PMU should at least have a voltage mea­
surement channel. Furthermore, as stated by (8), if bus j doesn’t have
any PMU of type m, i.e. x(j,m,n) = 0, it obviously doesn’t have any CMC
(w(j,i,m,n) = 0). Constraint (9) states that a CMC can only be defined for
network branches. If (j, i) doesn’t have any branch, i.e. a(i, j) = 0, the
current measurement channel w(j, i, m, n) would not be meaningful, and
it is assumed that w(j, i, m, n) = 0.
In practice, different PMUs from different types may be used. The
number of channels from each PMU type is limited as follows
∑ blackout, the ordinary state estimator could not converge which makes
m
a(i, j)w(i, j, m, n) ≤ Nch,max , ∀j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (10)
i∈B
m
where Nch,max is the maximum channel capacity of PMU of type m. As
each connected PMU should have at least one voltage measurement
channel and Nmin current measurement channels, it should have at least
(Nmin + 1) channels. Therefore, as a constraint it can be expressed as
∑ O F (l=ij) =
a(i, j)w(i, j, m, n) ≥ (Nmin + 1) x (j, m, n) ∀j ∈ B , m ∈ M , n ∈ N
i∈B
(11)
2.3. Novel constraints
Besides the basic constraints, the proposed OPP model includes some
newly-added constraints formulated based on a new definition of
observability. The convention in the OPP community is to call a system
fully observable if all the buses are observable. In this paper, the concept
of line-wise observability is proposed for the first time. According to this
concept, the observability function of a branch, e.g. l = ij, is defined as
∑∑
O F (l=ij) = w(j, i, m, n) + w(i, j, m, n) (12)
m∈M n∈N
Indeed, a line is assumed to be observable if and only if one of its
ending buses is directly observable. As some WAMS-based applications
need direct PMU measurements, this concept is developed to consider
this need in implementation of analytical applications within a WAMS.
These applications include, but are not limited to, restoration manage­
ment, power system model validations, synchronous generator param­
eters estimation, and dynamic line rating (DLR) monitoring. Besides the
WAMS applications, a practical challenge that can affect considerably on
the results of OPP problem, is the availability of synchrophasor mea­
surements from neighboring TSOs. The effect of this constraint is also
considered in the proposed OPP model.
It is worth mentioning that the line-wise observability function has
been defined using linear expressions which enables the optimization
problem to be solved easily and effectively by existing commercial
optimization tools, without any need for linearization, as described in
the following.
2.3.1. Constraints of WAMS-based applications
A. Restoration management. In terms of restoration schemes, there are
some pre-defined paths for the power system to restore it from
4
Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940
Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of a three-winding transformer.
neighbors’ grids or black-start units. Generally, the goal of these resto­
ration schemes is to power up the huge thermal power plants within
defined time limits, which depends on the technology of each thermal
power plant. In the restoration process, it is essential to monitor the
status of the power system after each stage of restoration. Due to the
the availability of direct PMU measurements from restoration paths
imperative.
For implementation of WAMS-based restoration management, for
line (l = ij) ∈ L R , where L R is a set of lines associated with the
restoration paths, the observability constraint is considered as
∑∑
w(j, i, m, n) + w(i, j, m, n) ≥ 1, ∀l ∈ L R (13a)
m∈M n∈N
This means there should be a direct current measurement channel
associated with at least one end of each line within the list of the
restoration paths.
It should be noted that constraint 13a) can be applied to AC trans­
mission lines. In [28], it has been shown that a PMU located at one end
of an HVDC line, either at the rectifier or the inverter side, cannot
provide phasors of the other side. Therefore, the concept of phasor
pseudo-measurement is not meaningful over the HVDC transmission
lines. However, when there is an HVDC link as a restoration path, the
proposed line-wise observability function ((12) can be still used for
considering the observability of the HVDC line. To this end, the HVDC
line is assumed to be directly observable if and only if both its ending
buses are directly observable as
∑∑
O F (l=ij) = w(j, i, m, n) + w(i, j, m, n) ≥ 2, ∀l ∈ L R , HVDC (13b)
m∈M n∈N
B. Transmission line model validation and dynamic line rating monitoring.
WAMS-based model validation is only valid when it uses direct PMU
measurements. It is due to the fact that indirect measurements which are
obtained from state estimation require the system parameters. There­
fore, WAMS-based model validation, and especially transmission lines
model validation (TL-MV), require direct PMU measurements for esti­
mating the system parameters such as resistance, reactance, and sus­
ceptance of the line. In a similar way, WAMS-based dynamic line rating
(DLR) monitoring which uses transmission lines parameters to estimate
transmission lines rating needs direct PMU measurements. For trans­
mission lines which are nominated for TL-MV or DLR monitoring ap­
plications, the OPP constraint can be expressed as
∑∑
O F (l=ij) = w(j, i, m, n) + w(i, j, m, n) ≥ 1, ∀l ∈ L TL− MV (14)
m∈M n∈N
where L TL− MV denotes a set of nominated lines for both TL-MV and DLR
monitoring.
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

C. Transformer model validation. Similar to transmission lines, two- and

three-winding transformers model validation (T-MV) can be imple­
mented as a WAMS-based application, which needs direct PMU mea­
surements for interested transformers to validate their parameters
accurately. As an example, the per-phase equivalent circuit of a three-
winding transformer is depicted in Fig. 1. As can be seen in Fig. 1, Vs ,
Is , and Zs (s = 1,2,3) are respectively voltage phasor, current phasor and
impedance of sth side of the transformer, and YM is the admittance that
represents the core losses and the magnetising reactance.
According to Fig. 1, we can obtain

⎡ V1 ⎤ ⎡ V1 ⎤ ⎡ V1,r + jV1,i ⎤
[ V3 ]
⎢ I1 ⎥ ⎢ I1 ⎥ ⎢ I1,r + jI1,i ⎥
I3 = T⎣ ⎦, ⎣ ⎦=⎣ ⎦ (15)
V2 V2 V2,r + jV2,i
0
I2 I2 I2,r + jI2,i
Fig. 2. Model of a power plant with dummy buses.
⎡ 1 + YM Z3 − (Z1 + Z3 (1 + YM Z1 )) 0 Z3 ⎤
T=⎣ − YM 1 + YM Z1 0 − 1⎦ (16)
1 − Z2 − 1 0

where Vs,r /Is,r represents the real part of voltage/current phasors of the
sth side of the transformer and Vs,i /Is,i indicates the imaginary part of
voltage/current phasors of the sth side of the transformer. Therefore, V3
and I3 can be expressed as
( )
V3 = f1 V1,r , V1,i , I1,r , I1,i , V2,r , V2,i , I2,r , I2,i
( )
+ j f2 V1,r , V1,i , I1,r , I1,i , V2,r , V2,i , I2,r , I2,i (17)
( )
I3 = g1 V1,r , V1,i , I1,r , I1,i , V2,r , V2,i , I2,r , I2,i
( )
+ j g2 V1,r , V1,i , I1,r , I1,i , V2,r , V2,i , I2,r , I2,i (18)

and therefore
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
|V3 | = f 21 + f 22 , |I3 | = g21 + g22 (19)

The above relationships demonstrate that the magnitudes of voltage

and current of one side of a three-winding transformer can be obtained
in terms of the real and imaginary parts of voltage and current phasors of
two other sides, which can be gained from PMU measurements. How­
ever, we can not express (15) in terms of magnitudes of voltage and
current from two or three sides of the transformer. From the above
discussion, it can be concluded that at least two sides of a three-winding
transformer should have PMU measurements for validating the param­
eters of transformer and the third side should have at least one SCADA
measurement, i.e. RTU, to measure the voltage and current magnitudes.
Admittedly, for the third-side of the transformer, a PMU measurement is Fig. 3. Sharing observability in a multi-TSO power system.
prefered, in order to obtain the real and imaginary parts of the voltage
and current phasors of this side. Consequently, an efficient WAMS-based PMU, which can be expressed as
T-MV can be implemented through PMU-PMU-RTU or PMU-PMU-PMU ∑∑
w(i, j, m, n) + w(j, i, m, n) ≥ 1, ∀(i, j) ∈ T (21)
measurements. m∈M n∈N
2

In order to consider the above practical issue, the constraint incor­

porated in the OPP problem is as follows where T 2 is a set of two-winding transformers, and i and j are the
∑∑ indices of the transformer’s buses.
w(i, M, m, n) + w(j, M, m, n) + w(k, M, m, n) ≥ 2, ∀(i, j, k, M) ∈ T 3
m∈M n∈N

(20) D. Synchronous generator parameters estimation. For some WAMS ap­

where T 3 is a set of three-winding transformers of the network. Here,
(i, j, k, M) shows first, second, and third sides of transformers that are
respectively denoted by buses i, j and k. Additionally, M denotes the
dummy middle bus of the three-winding transformers as shown in Fig. 1.
Obviously, as (20) implies, the observability constraint should not be
considered for the dummy buses.
In a similar way, for a two-winding transformer, it can be easily
proved that at least one of the two sides of the transformer should have a
plications, such as synchronous generator parameters estimation, it is
necessary to make the power plants directly observable by installing
PMUs [36]. If such power plants have multiple generators, the observ­
ability of each generator is required, but the installation of a PMU for
each generator is not a practical solution. As shown in Fig. 2, for each
generation unit within a power plant, a dummy bus is considered, in case
of existence of unit transformers. These dummy buses should be indi­
rectly observable through the following constraints
x (g, m, n) = 0, ∀g ∈ B g , m ∈ M , n ∈ N (22)

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M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

Fig. 4. Single-line diagram of the MTSO transmission system. This figure also shows the boundary buses of neighboring TSOs and PMU placement of Scenarios S1
and S2. “Flash” symbol shows CMCs of PMUs. PMUs/ CMCs which are only related to Scenario S1 or S2 are specified. Other unlabeled PMUs/ CMCs belong to both
Scenarios S1 and S2.

not allowed at them. Two situations can be assumed for the observability
OF (g)
≥ 1, ∀g ∈ B g (23)
of these boundary buses:
where B g /g is a set/index of dummy buses related to generators of
(1) Type-1 boundary buses: boundary buses that have a connected
different power plants.
PMU and their corresponding TSO cooperates with MTSO
through sharing their PMUs data. Therefore, the following con­
2.3.2. Observability of multi-TSO power systems
straints are considered in the OPP problem for these boundary
In modern interconnected power systems, each area of the power
buses
system is operated independently by an independent TSO. While a TSO
is responsible for its own system, their observability can be shared with x (b 1 , 1, 1) = 1, x (b 1 , m, n) = 0, ∀b 1 ∈ B 1 , 1 < m ∈ M , n ∈ N
others, which means that they can cooperate to share the existing (24)
measurements with other TSOs. Thus, based on the cooperation level of
adjacent TSOs, the solution of OPP for each TSO may differ. This issue is w(b 1 , b, 1, 1) = 1, ∀b 1 ∈ B 1 , b ∈ B (25)
indicated in Fig. 3, and it is considered in the proposed OPP model as a
multi-TSO power system constraint.
As shown in Fig. 3, for a specific TSO, which is highlighted by main
TSO (MTSO), some boundary buses are denoted and counted as the where B 1 /b 1 represents the set/index of the boundary buses of Type-1
buses of MTSO in the OPP problem. Also, some other buses which are as depicted in Fig. 3. Also, B/b is the set/index of the internal buses of
outside of the dashed box in Fig. 3 are not owned or operated by MTSO the network which are connected to the boundary buses. Constraint (24)
but also owned by TSO1-TSO6 as the operators of the neighboring power expresses that Type-1 boundary buses have a PMU and without loss of
systems. However, to make the grid of MTSO fully observable, these generality, it is assumed that this PMU is from first type (x (b 1 ,m,n) = 0,
boundary buses should be observable by MTSO while installing PMU is 1 < m). Also, according to (25), this PMU has a CMC for lines in b 1 − b.

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M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

Table 1
Input data for the OPP of the MTSO transmission network.
Data Description Value

B Set of all involved buses in OPP {1,2,...,86}

M Set of PMU types {1,2,3}
Nmch,max Maximum channel limit of PMU of type m N1ch,max =4 N2ch,max =6 N3ch,max =8
n max Maximum number of PMUs to be installed at each station 4
B1 Set of type-1 boundary buses {16,17,18,19}
B2 Set of type-2 boundary buses {23-27, 66-69}
B Set of internal buses connected to boundary buses {2,6,15}
Bg Set of generator dummy buses {31-40, 72-83}
B0 Set of buses should not have PMU {28-30,70,71}
BM Set of dummy buses of 3-winding transformers {84}
FC(m, n) Fixed Cost of the PMUs FC(1, 1)=25000$
(For extra PMUs are the half of the first PMU) FC(2, 1)=22000$
FC(3, 1)=20000$
CC(m, n) PMUs Channel Cost CC(1, n)=1000$
CC(2, n)=1200$
CC(3, n)=1500$
Set of lines associated with restoration paths (L R ):
{6-7, 6-15, 7-22, 9-10, 9-21, 10-11, 11-14, 21-61, 22-51, 22-56, 22-57, 44-46, 46-48, 48-51, 22-53, 53-61}
Set of buses related to 3-winding transformers (T 3 ): {(5, 59, 86,84)}
Set of buses related to 2-winding transformers (T 2 ) : {(5,20), (7,22), (9,21)}
TL− MV
Set of nominated lines for TL-MV or DLR monitoring (L ): {2-6, 4-5, 4-3, 4-6, 6-7}
Set of zero-injection buses (ZIBs): {84, 85}

(1) Type-2 boundary buses: boundary buses that do not have any
connected PMU or their corresponding TSOs do not cooperate
with MTSO to share their PMUs data. These buses are modeled in
the proposed OPP as
x (b 2 , m, n) = 0, ∀b 2 ∈ B 2 , m ∈ M , n ∈ N
OF (b 2 )
≥ 1, ∀b 2 ∈ B 2
where B 2 /b 2 indicates the set/index of the boundary buses of Type-2 as
shown in Fig. 3.
Note that the PMUs associated with the adjacent TSOs should be
excluded from the objective function of MTSO. Considering a multi-TSO
power system for running the OPP problem, the objective function will
change as follows
3. Simulation results
The effectiveness and practicality of the proposed OPP model are
assessed through the following case studies:
(26)
• A real power system: An 86-bus real power system is employed to
illustrate different contributions of the proposed method, including
(27)
the effect of constraints related to WAMS-based applications and
multi-TSO power systems.
• IEEE test systems: Simulations are applied to IEEE 118-bus and IEEE
300-bus test systems, which have been studied previously from the
OPP prospect in the literature, to show the scalability of the proposed
OPP model, and also to demonstrate a comparison with the previous
research works.
All simulations are executed in a GAMS environment on an Intel Core
i7 CPU at 2.6 GHz and 16 GB of RAM. Based on the proposed OPP model

( )
∑ ∑∑ ∑ ∑∑∑
Minimize FC(m, n)x (j, m, n) + CC(m, n)w(j, i, m, n) (28)
j∈(B − B 1 )m∈M n∈N j∈(B − B 1 ) i∈B m∈M n∈N

presented in Section 2, a MILP model is considered which can be effi­

where a set of boundary buses of Type-1, i.e. B 1 , which consists of PMUs ciently solved by one of the common and available solvers i.e. CPLEX.
associated with TSOs who cooperate with MTSO, are excluded from both These solvers find the global optimal solution with an acceptable
summations. tolerance.

Table 2
Description of the studied scenarios.
Scenario \ Basic Restoration TL-MV or DLR 2-winding transformer model 3-winding transformer model N-1
Application applications Management monitoring validation validation contingency

S1 ✓ × × × × ×
S2 ✓ ✓ × × × ×
S3 ✓ ✓ ✓ × × ×
S4 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ × ×
S5 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ×
S6 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

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M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
Table 3
OPP results for MTSO transmission network in different scenarios.
* For the network of Fig. 4 (including boundary buses).
** For the MTSO Network (PMUs owned by other TSOs are excluded).
+
PMUs added respect to the previous scenario.
++
PMUs removed respect to the previous scenario.
3.1. Studies on a real power system
The single-line diagram of the 86-bus real power system is illustrated
in Fig. 4, where the restoration paths are highlighted in red (this figure
also indicates the results for PMU placement of Scenarios S1 and S2
which will be discussed later in the next section). This system is part of
the Iranian power system that is managed and operated by a TSO called
main TSO (MTSO), in this paper. Here, it is assumed that MTSO’s
network is part of a multi-TSO grid and it is connected to the neigh­
boring networks (operated by other TSOs) through boundary buses, i.e.
buses 16–19, 23–27, and 66–69, as indicated in Fig. 4. MTSO and other
TSOs are responsible for making their corresponding power grids
completely observable.
The input data and studied scenarios for OPP for the MTSO’s network
are listed in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. Here, the base scenario, i.
e. Scenario S1, consists of the basic constraints of the OPP problem
(defined in Section 2.2). Scenario S2 incorporates restoration manage­
ment requirements into the OPP problem. The impact of two WAMS
applications including transmission line model validation and DLR
monitoring, are analyzed in Scenario S3. Constraints related to two- and
three-winding transformer model validation are considered in scenarios
S4 and S5, respectively. Finally, N-1 contingency analysis with the
consideration of outage of PMUs is investigated in Scenario S6.
The OPP results associated with scenarios S1 to S6 are presented in
Table 3. Each result, e.g. PMU number, is given for whole power system
depicted in Fig. 4 and MTSO power system outside and inside of
parenthesis, respectively. In the following sections, results of each sce­
nario are explained. It should be noted that, in Sections 3.1.1–3.1.3, it is
assumed that neighboring TSOs associated with buses 16-19 have PMUs
and cooperate with MTSO by sharing their PMUs data. Other
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Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940
neighboring TSOs do not have any PMU at the boundary bus of their
network and MTSO’s network. In Section 3.1.4 the cooperation of MTSO
with neighboring TSOs will be discusses in detail.
3.1.1. Scenarios S1 and S2
As Table 3 shows, in the base case, i.e. Scenario S1, MTSO needs to
install 22 PMUs to make its transmission grid fully observable assuming
that four neighboring TSOs, which are connected to buses 16 to 19 share
their PMUs data with MTSO. Considering observability of restoration
paths as a constraint in the OPP problem, i.e. Scenario S2, three PMUs
are installed at buses 20, 61, and 85, while PMUs of buses 47 and 60 are
removed. As a result, the proposed method can make the restoration
paths observable by installing only one extra PMU, and also, this issue is
mainly addressed by changing the placement of PMUs and adding some
extra channels to the existing PMUs. In Fig. 4, the PMUs and their CMCs
have been shown for Scenarios S1 and S2. Those PMUs/ CMCs which are
only related to Scenario S1 or S2 are labeled with S1 or S2, respectively.
Otherwise, unlabeled PMUs/ CMCs belong to both scenarios.
In overall, Scenario S2 has one more PMU and 11 more channels
which leads to an increase in total PMUs cost by 6.5% with respect to
Scenario S1. Therefore, the observability of the restoration paths,
including 16 transmission lines (as highlighted in Fig. 4), has been
achieved optimally using the proposed line-wise observability concept.
3.1.2. Scenarios S3 and S4
In Scenario S3, TL-MV and DLR monitoring are considered for five
transmission lines (selected by MTSO’s operators, and highlighted in
Fig. 5), three PMUs should be included at buses 47, 50, and 53 while
three PMUs must be excluded from buses 20, 61, and 85. This means that
the number of PMUs has not changed, and model validation and DLR
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
Fig. 5. PMU placement of Scenarios S3 and S4 (PMUs/CMCs which are only related to Scenario S3 or S4 are specified. Other unlabeled PMUs/CMCs belong to both
Scenarios S3 and S4). “Flash” symbol shows CMCs of PMUs.
monitoring of the desired transmission lines have been performed only
by adding two more CMCs, as shown in Fig. 5 and labeled with S3. This
leads to a slight increase (3 k$) in the total cost.
It can be seen from Table 3 that by only adding one more CMC along
with a new PMU placement (at bus 5), and reconfiguration of existing
CMCs for other PMUs, three extra two-winding transformers can be
made fully observable in Scenario S4 with the purpose of their model
validation of two-winding transformers. In this Scenario, since two
PMUs (at buses 5 and 85) are added and two PMUs (at buses 47 and 50)
are removed, the number of PMUs remains unchanged. In Fig. 5, the
PMUs and their winding transformers have been shown for Scenarios S3
and S4. Those PMUs/ winding transformers which are only related to
Scenario S3 or S4 are labeled with S3 or S4, respectively. Otherwise,
unlabeled PMUs/ winding transformers belong to both scenarios.
3.1.3. Scenarios S5 and S6
As discussed in Section 2, to ensure the observability of a three-
winding transformer, at least two terminals should be equipped with
PMUs. Fig. 6 shows that in Scenario S5, a new PMU is installed at bus 59,
which beside the installed PMU in bus 86 (previously installed in Sce­
nario S4) can satisfy the constraint of T-MV for the three-winding
transformer connected to buses 5, 59, and 86. Therefore, the
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Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940
installation of this new PMU at bus 59 removes the need for installing a
PMU at bus 58 in the OPP problem. The observability of bus 58 in
Scenario S5 is ensured through installing a new PMU at bus 20. From
Fig. 6, it is evident that by installing a PMU at bus 20, the observability
of bus 5 is also provided and as a result, there is no need to install a PMU
at bus 5. In other words, PMUs of buses 5 and 58 in Scenario S4 are
replaced by PMUs of buses 20 and 59 in Scenario S5. In consequence, the
constraint of T-MV for the three-winding transformer is satisfied through
rearrangement and reconfiguration of two PMUs while this constraint is
stricter for three-winding transformers compared to two-winding
transformers.
As it is observed in Sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.3, the proposed OPP model
can consider observability of restoration paths, TL-MV, DLR monitoring,
and model validation of two- and three-winding transformers, only by
adding one extra PMU compared to the basic OPP solution in Scenario
S1.
To increase the reliability of the placement of PMUs in the MTSO’s
network, an N-1 contingency has been also considered for PMU outages
as Scenario S6 in Table 3. According to Table 3, although the number of
PMUs is doubled in Scenario S6, it leads to an increase of only 0.44% to
the PMUs cost. This is due to the fact that the proposed method mini­
mizes PMUs cost rather than number of PMUs. By increasing the number
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

Fig. 6. PMU placement of Scenarios S4 and S5 (PMUs/CMCs which are only related to Scenario S4 or S5 are specified. Other unlabeled PMUs/CMCs belong to both
Scenarios S4 and S5). “Flash” symbol shows CMCs of PMUs.

Table 4
OPP results considering N-2 contingency criteria.
# of Total PMUs Cost # of PMU PMU locations
PMUs channels

71 (67) 1.3868 M$ 266 (259) m = 1: 16, 17, 18,19

(1279.8 k$) m = 2: 2 (3 PMUs), 4 (3 PMUs), 6 (3 PMUs), 22 (3 PMUs), 44 (3 PMUs), 48 (3 PMUs), 51 (3 PMUs)
m = 3: 1 (2 PMUs), 10 (2 PMUs), 11 (4 PMUs), 12 (3 PMUs), 13 (3 PMUs), 20 (3 PMUs), 21 (3 PMUs), 41 (3 PMUs), 42 (3
PMUs), 47 (3 PMUs), 49 (3 PMUs), 59 (3 PMUs), 61 (1 PMU), 64 (3 PMUs), 86 (3 PMUs)

of PMUs, the number of PMU channels and subsequently, PMUs cost do
not increase significantly. This result illustrates the importance of
considering PMUs cost as the objective function rather than PMUs
number in the OPP problem.
It should be noted that, the proposed OPP can also consider N-k
(k≥ 2) contingency. For example, to consider N-2 contingency, the
observability function of each bus is considered to be equal to at least
“3”. This means that each bus should be observable at least in three
paths. The results of this study are presented in Table 4, which show that
considering N-2 contingency can increase PMUs number significantly.
Therefore, the decision maker deals with a trade-off between the PMUs
cost and the desired level of security (N-1 contingency, N-2 contingency,
etc.), where a multi-objective OPP problem can be used with both the
PMUs cost and the observability level as the objective functions, as
discussed in [27].
3.1.4. Impact of the presence of HVDC links on the OPP results
To demonstrate the effect of the existence of an HVDC line in the
restoration path, the following cases are compared:
• C1: It is similar to Scenario S5 wherein a set of AC lines associated
with restoration paths is considered: L R ,AC = {6–7, 6–15, 7–22,
9–10, 9–21, 10–11, 11–14, 21–61, 22–51, 22–56, 22–57, 44–46,
46–48, 48–51, 22–53, 53–61}.

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M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
Table 5
The effect of the presence of HVDC links on the proposed OPP results.
Table 6
Number of PMUs/PMU channels of MTSO considering different cooperation levels of its neighbouring TSOs.
Scenario\Results Cooperative TSOs Non-Cooperative TSOs
Case-1 - 16-19, 23-27, 66-69
Case-2 16, 17
Case-3 16-19
Case-4 16-19, 23, 24
Case-5 16-19, 23-27
• C2: Similar to case C1 except line 6–7 is an HVDC line.
• C3: Similar to case C1 except line 10–11 is an HVDC line.
• C4: Similar to case C1 except lines 10–11 and 14–11 are HVDC lines.
The OPP results for cases C1 to C4 are listed in Table 5. As Table 5
shows, when the network only includes the AC transmission lines, i.e.
case C1, MTSO should install 23 PMUs in its network to make the system
completely observable and consider the desired WAMS application as
well. However, in case C2 in which line 6–7 is an HVDC line and it is part
of the restoration path, an additional PMU is required for considering
both basic and novel constraints related to WAMS applications. As seen
in Table 5, case C2 requires installing 2 additional PMUs of Type-2 at bus
6, and one PMU of Type-3 at buses 5, 58, 61; and removing of PMUs at
buses 6, 20, 53, and 59, which are all in Type-3. As a result, in this case,
the presence of the HVDC link instead of the AC transmission line has
increased the number of PMUs by 1, number of PMU channels by 2, and
total PMUs cost by 13 k$, which is significantly lower than the cost of a
single PMU. For case C3, to make the HVDC line 10–11 observable as
part of the restoration path, PMUs of buses 53 and 85 are removed and
are connected to buses 47 and 61, with just a new CMC (in comparison
with the case C1). For case C4, the observability of two HVDC lines
10–11 and 14–11 are ensured by installing a new PMU of Type-3 at bus
11 and replacing PMUs of buses 20, 53 and 59 into buses 5, 58, and 61.
In general, results of scenarios S1 to S6 and cases C1 to C4 confirm
that the proposed method can efficiently consider several important
Fig. 7. Effect of neighboring TSOs cooperation on total cost of PMU installation
in MTSO.
Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940
# of PMUs # of PMU channels
24 100
18, 19, 23-27, 66-69 23 99
23-27, 66-69 23 97
25-27, 66-69 23 96
66-69 21 94
WAMS applications, especially the observability of restoration paths
including both AC and DC transmission lines. The proposed method
obtains such comprehensiveness level mainly by changing the location/
configuration of the existing PMUs and in some cases by adding a few
numbers of PMUs or measurement channels which does not significantly
increase the cost of PMU placement.
3.1.5. OPP results for a multi-TSO power system
In this section, as one of the main contributions of this paper, the OPP
is studied for the case of a multi-TSO power system where boundary
buses 16–19, 23–27, and 66–69 are associated with neighboring TSOs
and other buses are related to MTSO’s network. To solve the OPP for
MTSO, it is important to know if neighboring TSOs cooperate with
MTSO or not regarding data sharing of their PMUs. As described in
Section 2.3.2, boundary buses associated with cooperative and non-
cooperative TSOs are referred to as Typ-1 and Typ-2 boundary buses,
respectively. It is assumed that the neighboring TSOs at boundary buses
16–19 and 23–27 have installed PMUs (which may or may not cooperate
with MTSO), and the neighboring TSOs at boundary buses 66–69 do not
have any installed PMU. Thus, MTSO faces different scenarios based on
the cooperation of TSOs 6–19 and 23–27 (9 TSOs). Therefore, 29 cases
can be assumed and subsequently, a probabilistic OPP can be considered
based on the stochastic nature of TSOs behavior; however, this is not in
the scope of this paper. Here, it is assumed that MTSO is aware of the
behavior of its neighboring TSOs and can evaluate its OPP based on their
cooperation level. Hence, five possible cases are assumed and the results
are reported in Table 6. It should be noted that this study is conducted
for Scenario S5 in which other aspects of the defined OPP including
restoration management, TL-MV and DLR monitoring, two- and three-
winding transformers model validation are also considered.
As Table 6 shows, the number of cooperative TSOs in case-1 to case-5
is 0, 2, 4, 6, and 9, respectively where cooperative and non-cooperative
TSOs in each case are listed. For example, as the worst case, in case-1,
none of the neighboring TSOs tend to share their PMUs data to MTSO
and therefore, MTSO has to make its network observable using its own
PMUs. In this case, MTSO should install 24 PMUs to ensure observability
of MTSO’s network. These PMUs include 100 CMCs. From the results
presented in Table 6, it can be concluded that the number of PMUs and
also the number of PMU channels that should be installed decreases by
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M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al. Electric Power Systems Research 214 (2023) 108940

Table 7
Comparison between the proposed method and other methods for IEEE 118-BUS and IEEE 300-BUS test systems.
Ref. Method MinPMU cost/ Restoration TL-MV or DLR T- Multiple PMU Channel # of PMUs
number monitoring MV and Type limit 118-bus 300-bus
Normal With N-1 Normal With N-1
* Contingency * Contingency

[45] MILP number No No No No No 28 61 N/A N/A

[23] BPSO1 number No No No No Yes 28 68 69 N/A
[44] MILP number No No No No Yes 29 62 74 151
[47] PSO cost No No No No Yes 32 68 N/A N/A
[34] VNS2 cost No No No No Yes 32 63 87 N/A
[31] MIQCP3 cost No No No No Yes 28 71 68 162
[32] OBEBGA4 cost No No No No Yes 30 N/A N/A N/A
[48] MILP number No No No No No 28 72 68 177
[46] BICA5 cost No No No No No 32 64 81 181
[49] MILP number No No No No Yes 29 63 69 162
Proposed cost Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 29 64 72 163
1
Binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO).
2
Variable neighborhood search (VNS).
3
Mixed integer quadratically constrained programming (MIQCP).
4
Opposition-based elitist binary genetic algorithm (OBEBGA).
5
Binary imperialistic competition algorithm (BICA).
*
Normal operation conditions without N-1 contingencies.

Table 8
Comparison of the proposed method with the method suggested in [49] for the case of normal operation condition of IEEE 118-bus system.

increasing the cooperation level of neighboring TSOs. In case-5 that all
neighboring TSOs that have installed PMUs at the boundary buses, i.e.
TSOs 16–19, 23–27 cooperate with MTSO, only 21 PMUs and 94 CMCs
are needed to make MTSO network fully observable.
Fig. 7 shows total PMUs cost for MTSO corresponding to the different
cases. As this figure shows, total PMUs cost reduces by increasing the
cooperation level of neighboring TSOs. In case-5 that the highest
cooperation level exists, total PMUs cost decreases by 9.91 % compared
to the case-1 in which none of the neighboring TSOs cooperate with
MTSO. Therefore, the results presented in Table 6 and Fig. 7 show the
necessity of considering multi-TSO concept in the OPP problem where
the cooperation of neighboring TSOs impacts the result of OPP for
MTSO. As another advanced topic, simultaneous solving of OPP for
different TSOs of a multi-TSO system is an interesting topic which could
be studied in future researches
3.2. Studies on IEEE 118-bus and 300-bus test systems
To further verify the applicability and scalability of the proposed
OPP method and present a comparison with other OPP problems, the
proposed OPP is simulated for IEEE 118-bus and IEEE 300-bus test
systems. Note that the proposed and existing OPP problems are similar
in basic constraints including observability of buses and limitations of
PMUs channels. However, the additional practical aspects are consid­
ered in the proposed OPP. The simulation results for IEEE test systems
are shown in Table 7 which compares the proposed and the previous
OPP methods in terms of the total number of PMUs, as a criterion for
comparison. These results indicate that using the proposed OPP model
leads to 64 and 163 PMUs for IEEE 118-bus and IEEE 300-bus test sys­
tems respectively, to make them fully observable. Although the obtained
PMU numbers in the proposed method is slightly more than number of
PMUs in some methods; however, the proposed model considers the
observability of restoration paths, TL-MV, DLR monitoring, two- and
three-winding T-MV, and synchronous generators parameters estima­
tion as WAMS applications, and also multi-TSO feature of power systems
in addition to basic constraints that it considers.
According to Table 7, considering the WAMS applications as OPP
constraints may require installing a few new PMUs in comparison to
other methods. As it can be seen in Table 7, the PMUs number may be
the same for the proposed method and some other methods; however,
the proposed OPP method considers the mentioned WAMS applications
while others do not. For example, for the case of normal operation
condition of IEEE 118-bus system, the total number of PMUs for both the
proposed OPP method and the method presented in [49] are equal to 29,
and the detailed OPP results are presented in Table 8. As it can be
observed in Table 8, the proposed method changes some PMUs locations
(e.g., PMU of bus 27 is removed and PMU of bus 25 is added), and the
configuration of CMCs of some PMUs (e.g., 15 new CMCs have been
added to the existing or new installed PMUs). These changes in place­
ment or configuration of PMUs are necessary for observability of the
desired WAMS applications, while the method in [49] cannot provide
the same. For example, in PMU placement with the proposed OPP, a
PMU has been installed at bus 25 in order to provide the direct mea­
surements for model validation of transformer of branch 25–26, whereas
in the method used in [49] neither bus 25 nor 26 has PMU. Conse­
quently, the proposed OPP method, as one of its main advantages, is able
to consider the observability of the desired WAMS applications mainly
by changing the location and configuration of the existing PMUs or/and
in some cases by adding a few numbers of PMUs.

12
M. Khodadadi Arpanahi et al.
4. Conclusion
A novel comprehensive OPP model was proposed to address several
practical issues related to placement of PMUs in a WAMS design and
implementation. In addition to the conventional aspects of the OPP,
such as observability of the system buses, measurement redundancy,
limitations of PMUs channels, and zero-injection effect, practical chal­
lenges are considered in the proposed method. For the first time, the
concept of line-wise observability is proposed which enables OPP to deal
with issues such as observability of restoration paths, consideration of
transmission lines and transformers model validation, DLR monitoring,
and synchronous generators parameters estimation, as WAMS applica­
tions. Furthermore, the observability of multi-TSO power systems is
investigated based on the cooperation of TSOs in the concept of
observability sharing. Although, the proposed OPP formulation can
consider various basic and novel constraints, flexibly model PMU
numbers from different types and manufacturers, and minimize total
PMU costs, including fixed and variable costs, it is originally linear and
doesn’t need linearization techniques. Therefore, the proposed formu­
lation is originally a MILP, which can be efficiently solved by the com­
mercial optimization solvers. The simulation results show that the
proposed OPP model can consider basic and novel practical issues in the
OPP model and achieve global minimum PMUs costs and numbers.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Moossa Khodadadi Arpanahi: Conceptualization, Methodology,
Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data
curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visuali­
zation. Roozbeh Torkzadeh: Conceptualization, Methodology, Vali­
dation, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft,
Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Arash Safavizadeh:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Resources,
Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing,
Visualization. Ali Ashrafzadeh: Conceptualization, Methodology,
Validation, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Fariborz Eghtedarnia:
Validation, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data Availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
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