Fast selection of N-2 contingencies for online security assessment

We propose a novel algorithm for selection of dangerous N-2 contingencies associated with line or generator failures. The algorithm is based on iterative filtering of the set of all possible double contingencies. It is certified to identify all the dangerous contingencies, and has the complexity comparable to the N-1 contingency screening. Tests performed on realistic model of Polish power grid with about 3000 buses show that only two iterations of algorithm allow one to certify the safety of 99.9% of all double contingencies, leaving only 0.1% of the most dangerous ones for direct analysis.Comment: Was accepted to 2013 IEEE PES General Meeting conferenc

Line Failure Localization of Power Networks Part II: Cut Set Outages

Transmission line failure in power systems propagate non-locally, making the control of the resulting outages extremely difficult. In Part II of this paper, we continue the study of line failure localizability in transmission networks and characterize the impact of cut set outages. We establish a Simple Path Criterion, showing that the propagation pattern due to bridge outages, a special case of cut set failures, are fully determined by the positions in the network of the buses that participate in load balancing. We then extend our results to general cut set outages. In contrast to non-cut outages discussed in Part I whose subsequent line failures are contained within the original blocks, cut set outages typically impact the whole network, affecting the power flows on all remaining lines. We corroborate our analytical results in both parts using the IEEE 118-bus test system, in which the failure propagation patterns exhibit a clear block-diagonal structure predicted by our theory, even when using full AC power flow equations