Blackout

About: Blackout is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2088 publications have been published within this topic receiving 30433 citations.

Fast Searching Strategy for Critical Cascading Paths Toward Blackouts

Abstract: The analysis of severe cascading blackouts is an essential issue in power grid planning and operation. As there are a tremendous number of possible cascade paths in a large power system, it is very challenging to determine the critical cascading paths that may have catastrophic consequences. This paper proposes a complex network theory based methodology to determine such critical cascading paths with high efficiency. To this end, we construct an improved interaction graph to cope with the situation where the $(N-1)$ criterion is not satisfied during the follow-up cascade propagation after an initial fault. Subsequently, based on the graph, we derive a modified PageRank model to fast rank the influence of individual transmission lines on blackout risks. Further, leveraging the results of influence ranking, we devise an efficient strategy for searching critical cascading paths. Then, we derive an unbiased probability estimation method for individual cascading paths and the blackout. Simulations carried out on the IEEE 39-bus system, the IEEE 118-bus system, and a real-world 1122-bus system in China show that our method can enhance the searching efficiency by up to three orders of magnitude compared with standard Monte Carlo approaches, demonstrating its potential for cascading blackout analysis in large-scale power systems. Results also verify that the proposed probability estimation method is unbiased, and it can provide an efficient way for probability estimation of the blackouts with very low probability but high losses.

Experience from the Athens blackout of July 12, 2004

Abstract: On 12 July 2004 at 12:39 local time the south part of the Greek Interconnected Transmission System (including Athens) was split from the rest of the system and collapsed driving consumers with a total load of 4500 MW into blackout. Technical information about the causes, the evolution and the consequences of the blackout are presented in this paper. The report of a special committee appointed by the Ministry of Development of Greece immediately after the blackout is presented, as well the results of further studies including simulations with corrected data and generator adjustments.

Power Grids as Complex Networks: Resilience and Reliability Analysis

Abstract: Power grids are cyber-physical systems and can be modelled as network systems where individual units (generators, busbars and loads) are interconnected through physical and cyber links. Network components (nodes/edges) may undergo intentional and/or random failures. In catastrophic cases, a failure initiating from a small set of these components can quickly propagate through the whole network, leading to a cascade of failures that might force a deep whole-grid blackout. Often network components have different vitality and protecting some is more critical than others. This manuscript aims to provide a focused overview of modelling power grids as complex networks and their resilience and reliability analysis. We also perform a critical review of vitality metrics and their precision in power grid resilience analysis. The review is accompanied by some simulations on benchmark and real power grids to show the applicability of these concepts in studying resilience.