Reliability Modeling and Analysis of Cyber Enabled Electric Power Systems

Cyber-induced failures affect power system reliability and thus are important to be considered in composite system reliability evaluation. This dissertation extends the scope of bulk power system reliability modeling and analysis with the consideration of cyber elements. A novel methodology by introducing the concept of Cyber-Physical Interface Matrix (CPIM) is proposed. The failure modes of cyber components and their impact on transmission line tripping behaviors are modeled and numerically analyzed as an example to illustrate the construction and utility of the CPIM. The methodology is then enhanced and implemented on an extended Roy Billinton Test System (RBTS) with its applicability for large systems illustrated. The results clearly show the impact of cyber-induced failures on system-wide reliability indices. The CPIM is the critical idea in the proposed methodology. It decouples the analysis of the cyber part from the physical part and provides the means of performing the overall analysis in a tractable fashion. The overall methodology proposed in this dissertation also provides a scalable option for reliability evaluation of large cyber-physical power systems. The efficiency of the overall methodology can be further improved with the use of non-sequential Monte Carlo techniques. However, the failure and repair processes in cyber-induced events are inherently sequential involving dependent failures, making it difficult to utilize non-sequential sampling methods as simply as when the components are independent. In this dissertation, the difficulties of using sampling when there are dependent failures are thoroughly explored. An approach is proposed to overcome the difficulties by generating a representative state space and its probabilities from which states can be sampled. The proposed approach not only preserves the sequential and dependent features of cyber-induced events but also improves the efficiency, which is very beneficial for reliability evaluation of large power systems in the presence of cyber-induced dependent failures

Distribution of microservices for hardware interoperability in the Smart Grid

Due to the significant increase of population and their natural desire of improving their standard of living, usage of energy extracted from world commodities, especially shaped as electricity, has increased in an intense manner during the last decades. This fact brings up a challenge with a complicated solution, which is how to guarantee that there will be enough energy so as to satisfy the energy demand of the world population. Among all the possible solutions that can be adopted to mitigate this problem one of them is almost of mandatory adoption, which consists of rationalizing energy utilization, in a way that its wasteful usage is minimized and it can be leveraged during a longer period of time. One of the ways to achieve it is by means of the improvement of the power distribution grid, so that it will be able to react in a more efficient manner against common issues, such as energy demand peaks or inaccurate electricity consumption forecasts. However, in order to be able to implement this improvement it is necessary to use technologies from the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) sphere that often present challenges in some key areas: advanced metering infrastructure integration, interoperability and interconnectivity of the devices, interfaces to offer the applications, security measures design, etc. All these challenges may imply slowing down the adoption of the smart grid as a system to prolong the lifespan and utilization of the available energy. A proposal for an intermediation architecture that will make possible solving these challenges is put forward in this Master Thesis. Besides, one implementation and the tests that have been carried out to know the performance of the presented concepts have been included as well, in a way that it can be proved that the challenges set out by the smart grid can be resolved. RESUMEN. Debido al incremento significativo de la población y su deseo natural de mejorar su nivel de vida, la utilización de la energía extraída de las materias primas mundiales, especialmente en forma de electricidad, ha aumentado de manera intensa durante las últimas décadas. Este hecho plantea un reto de solución complicada, el cual es cómo garantizar que se dispondrá de la energía suficiente como para satisfacer la demanda energética de la población mundial. De entre todas las soluciones posibles que se pueden adoptar para mitigar este problema una de ellas es de casi obligatoria adopción, la cual consiste en racionalizar la utilización de la energía, de tal forma que se minimice su malgasto y pueda aprovecharse durante más tiempo. Una de las maneras de conseguirlo es mediante la mejora de la red de distribución de electricidad para que ésta pueda reaccionar de manera más eficaz contra problemas comunes, tales como los picos de demanda de energía o previsiones imprecisas acerca del consumo de electricidad. Sin embargo, para poder implementar esta mejora es necesario utilizar tecnologías del ámbito de las TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación) que a menudo presentan problemas en algunas áreas clave: integración de infraestructura de medición avanzada, interoperabilidad e interconectividad de los dispositivos, interfaces que ofrecer a las aplicaciones, diseño de medidas de seguridad, etc. Todos estos retos pueden implicar una ralentización en la adopción de la red eléctrica inteligente como un sistema para alargar la vida y la utilización de la energía disponible. En este Trabajo Fin de Máster se sugiere una propuesta para una arquitectura de intermediación que posibilite la resolución de estos retos. Además, una implementación y las pruebas que se han llevado a cabo para conocer el rendimiento de los conceptos presentados también han sido incluidas, de tal forma que se demuestre que los retos que plantea la red eléctrica inteligente pueden ser solventados