Evaluation of power system robustness in order to prevent cascading outages

  Power system robustness against overload condition is a challenging issue in the fields of power system planning and operation. In this paper, two indices are proposed to evaluate power system robustness. The proposed indices are used to identify critical lines whose failure is due to overload, leading the power system to cascading outages and blackout. The first proposed index is a linear index. The second index is based on graph theory metrics. To prevent cascading outages, system robustness is calculated for all N-1 and N-2 contingencies. The lines whose outages lead to the smallest robustness values are considered as critical lines. The proposed indices are validated by applying to the IEEE 118-bus test system. Simulation results demonstrate the capability of both indices in identifying critical lines. Therefore, the purposed indices could be used as a reliable metric to apply preventive actions against possible cascading outages and blackouts.

___

  • Venkatasubramanian MV, Kezunovic M, Vittal V. Detection, Prevention and Mitigation of Cascading Events. Madison, WI, USA: Power Systems Engineering Research Center, 2008.
  • UCTE. Final Report on the Disturbances of 4 November 2006. Brussels, Belgium: UCTE, 2007.
  • Turkish Electricity Transmission Company. Turkish Power System and 31st March 2015 Blackout. SEERC Man- agement Board Meeting. Ankara, Turkey: Turkish Electricity Transmission Company, 2015.
  • Liscouski B, Elliot W. Final Report on the August 14, 2003 Blackout in the United States and Canada: Causes and Recommendations. A Report to US Department of Energy. Washington, DC, USA: Department of Energy, 2004.
  • NERC Steering Group. Technical Analysis of the August 14, 2003, Blackout: What Happened, Why, and What Did We Learn. Report to the NERC Board of Trustees. Atlanta, GA, USA: NERC, 2004.
  • Andersson G, Donalek P, Farmer R, Hatziargyriou N, Kamwa I, Kundur P. Causes of the 2003 major grid blackouts in North America and Europe, and recommended means to improve system dynamic performance. IEEE T Power Syst 2005; 20: 1922-1928.
  • UCTE. Final Report of the Investigation Committee on the 28 September 2003 Blackout in Italy. Brussels, Belgium: UCTE, 2004.
  • Xu C, Gu W, Luo L, Yao J, Yang Sh, Wang K, Zeng D, Fan M. An interval-based contingency selecting approach considering uncertainty. Turk J Elec Eng & Comp Sci 2016; 24: 4682-4692.
  • Dobson I, Carreras BA, Lynch VE, Newman DE. An initial model for complex dynamics in electric power system blackouts. In: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences; 2001.
  • Carreras BA, Newman DE, Dobson I, Degala NS. Validating OPA with WECC data. In: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences; 2013.
  • Ren H, Dobson I, Carreras BA. Long-term effect of the n-1 criterion on cascading line outages in an evolving power transmission grid. IEEE T Power Syst 2008; 23: 1217-1225.
  • Zeng K, Wen J, Cheng S, Lu E, Wang N. A Critical Lines Identification Algorithm of Complex Power System. In: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences; 2001
  • Karimi E, Ebrahimi A. Probabilistic transmission expansion planning considering risk of cascading transmission line failures. Int T Electr Energy 2015; 25: 2547-2561.
  • Kim J, Wierzbicki KR, Dobson I, Hardiman RC. Estimating propagation and distribution of load shed in simulations of cascading blackouts. IEEE J Syst 2012; 6: 548-557.
  • Ren H, Dobson I. Using transmission line outage data to estimate cascading failure propagation in an electric power system. IEEE T Circuits Syst 2008; 55: 927-931.
  • Dobson I. Estimating the propagation and extent of cascading line outages from utility data with a branching process. IEEE T Power Syst 2012; 27: 2146-2155.
  • Kim J, Dobson I. Approximating a loading-dependent cascading failure model with a branching process. IEEE T Reliab 2010; 59: 691-699.
  • Qi J, Dobson I, Mei S. Towards estimating the statistics of simulated cascades of outages with branching processes. IEEE T Power Syst 2013; 28: 3410-3419.
  • Ren H, Dobson I. Using transmission line outage data to estimate cascading failure propagation in an electric power system. IEEE T Circuits Syst 2008; 55: 927-931.
  • Phadke AG, Thorp JS. Expose hidden failures to prevent cascading outages. IEEE Comput Appl Pow 1996; 9: 20-23.
  • Kumbale M, Hardiman R, Makarov Y. A methodology for simulating power system vulnerability to cascading failures in the steady state. Eur T Elect Power 2008; 18: 802-808.
  • Anghel M, Werley KA, Mottor AE. Stochastic model for power grid dynamics. In: Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences; 2007.
  • Qi J, Sun K, Mei S. An interaction model for simulation and mitigation of cascading failures. IEEE T Power Syst 2015; 30: 804-819.
  • Wang JW, Rong LL. A model for cascading failures in scale-free networks with a breakdown probability. Physica A 2009; 388: 1289-1298.
  • Weia DQ, Luoa XS, Zhang B. Analysis of cascading failure in complex power networks under the load local preferential redistribution rule. Physica A 2012; 391: 2771-2777.
  • Koç Y, Warniera M, Mieghemb PV, Kooij RE, Brazier MT. A topological investigation of phase transitions of cascading failures in power grids. Physica A 2014; 415: 273-284.
  • Bompard E, Napoli R, Xue F. Extended topological approach for the assessment of structural vulnerability in transmission networks. IET Gener Transm Dis 2010; 4: 716-724.
  • Arianos S, Bompard E, Carbone A, Xue F. Power grid vulnerability: a complex network approach. Chaos 2009; 19: 13119.
  • Bao ZJ, Cao YJ, Wang GZ, Ding LJ. Analysis of cascading failure in electric grid based on power flow entropy. Phys Lett A 2009; 373: 3032-3040.
  • Koç Y, Warniera M, Mieghemb PV, Kooij RE, Brazier MT. The impact of the topology on cascading failures in a power grid model. Physica A 2014; 402: 169-179.
  • Li DD, Dong LX, Yue WX, Hua OYD, Bin Z. Critical thresholds for scale-free networks against cascading failures. Physica A 2014; 416: 252-258.
  • Wang J. Robustness of complex networks with the local protection strategy against cascading failures. Safety Sci 2013; 53: 219-225.
  • Wang J. Mitigation strategies on scale-free networks against cascading failures. Physica A 2013; 392: 2257-2264.
  • Wang JW, Rong LL. Robustness of the western United States power grid under edge attack strategies due to cascading failures. Safety Sci 2011; 49: 807-812.
  • Fang X, Yang Q, Yan W. Modeling and analysis of cascading failure in directed complex networks. Safety Sci 2014; 65: 1-9.
  • Koc Y, Warnier M, Kooij RE, Brazier FM. An entropy based metric to quantify the robustness of power grids against cascading failures. Safety Sci 2013; 59: 126-134.
  • Bompard E, Napoli R, Xue F. Analysis of structural vulnerabilities in power transmission grids. Int J Crit Infr Prot 2009; 2: 5-12.
  • Xu X, Yan Z, Shahidehpour M, Wang H, Chen S. Power system voltage stability evaluation considering renewable energy with correlated variabilities. IEEE T Power Syst 2018; 33: 3236-3245.
  • Chen H, Fang X, Zhang R, Jiang T, Li G, Li F. Available transfer capability evaluation in a deregulated electricity market considering correlated wind power. IET Gener Transm Dis 2018; 12: 53-61.
  • Pena I, Anido C, Hodge B. An extended IEEE 118-bus test system with high renewable. IEEE T Power Syst 2018; 33: 281-289.
  • Liu X, Wen Y, Li Z. Multiple solutions of transmission line switching in power systems. IEEE T Power Syst 2018; 33: 1118-1120.
  • Mieghem PV. Graph Spectra for Complex Networks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.