A Systematic Approach of Identifying Optimal Load Control Actions for Arresting Cascading Failures in Power Systems

Abstract

Cascading outages in power networks cause blackouts which lead to huge economic and social consequences. The traditional form of load shedding is avoidable in many cases by identifying optimal load control actions. However, if there is a change in the system topology (adding or removing loads, lines etc), the calculations have to be performed again. This paper addresses this problem by providing a workflow that 1) generates system models from IEEE CDF specifications, 2) identifies a collection of blackout causing contingencies, 3) dynamically sets up an optimization problem, and 4) generates a table of mitigation strategies in terms of minimal load curtailment. We demonstrate the applicability of our proposed methodology by finding load curtailment actions for N-k contingencies (k = 1, 2, 3) in IEEE 14 Bus system.

Publication
Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience in Smart Grids, SPSR-SG@CPSWeek 2017, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, April 21, 2017