The Department of Energy investigated the major cost factors that affected PMU installation costs for the synchrophasor projects funded through the Recovery Act Smart Grid Programs. The data was compiled through interviews with the nine projects that deployed production grade synchrophasor systems.
The study found that while the costs associated with PMUs as stand-alone devices do not vary widely, installation costs varied significantly among the transmission owners interviewed. Decisions about new or incremental communications systems as well as physical and cyber-security for the PMUs and overall synchrophasor systems were the principal factors driving average PMU installation costs. Transmission owners that built new, dedicated high-speed telecommunications networks to deliver synchrophasor data for mission-critical applications incurred very high average costs per installed PMU. These mission-critical installations also required comprehensive cybersecurity strategies that further increased costs.
The final report is available for downloading below.
