Effects of Communication Signal Delay on the Power Grid: A Review

Communication plays a huge role in the operation of modern power systems. It permits a real-time monitoring coordination and control of the transmission, generation and distribution of electrical energy. As the modern grid grows towards an increased reliance on communication systems for the protection, metering and monitoring for as well as data acquisition for planning; there is a need to understand the challenge in the powers’ system communication and their impact on the uninterrupted supply of electrical energy. Communication delays are one of the challenges that might affect the performance of the power system and lead to power losses and equipment damage, it is important to investigate the causes and the mitigation options available. Thus, this paper the state of arts on the cause, the effect and mitigation of communication delays in the power system. Furthermore, in this paper an analysis of different causes of the delays for different network configurations and communication systems used; a comparative analysis of different latency mitigation methods and system performance simulations of a given compensation algorithm is tested against the existing methods. The pros and cons of these control strategies are illustrated in this paper. The summary and assessment of those methods of control in this review offer scholars and utilities valuable direction-finding to design superior communication energy control systems in the future.