Abruptness of Cascade Failures in Power Grids

Abstract

Electric power-systems are one of the most important critical infrastructures. In recent years, they have been exposed to extreme stress due to the increasing demand, the introduction of distributed renewable energy sources, and the development of extensive interconnections. We investigate the phenomenon of abrupt breakdown of an electric power-system under two scenarios: load growth (mimicking the ever-increasing customer demand) and power fluctuations (mimicking the effects of renewable sources). Our results on real, realistic and synthetic networks indicate that increasing the system size causes breakdowns to become more abrupt; in fact, mapping the system to a solvable statistical-physics model indicates the occurrence of a first order transition in the large size limit. Such an enhancement for the systemic risk failures (black-outs) with increasing network size is an effect that should be considered in the current projects aiming to integrate national power-grids into “super-grids”.

Building blocks of the basin stability of power grids

“…Finding network topologies that enhance the stability of power grids has been an active subfield of network theory. Previous studies have typically focused on the structural vulnerability of power grids against external attacks [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and the cascading spreading of system failure over power grids [6,[8][9][10]. In addition, researchers have studied the relation between topology and dynamics via network synchronization models.…”

Optimizing the Structure of Distribution Smart Grids with Renewable Generation against Abnormal Conditions: A Complex Networks Approach with Evolutionary Algorithms

“…The CN community, including part of the electrical engineering community [91], argue that the CN approach does not aim to reflect the detailed operation of a given grid, but to discover the possible emergence of a systemic or collective behavior, beyond that of its single components. This is supported by a number of high-impact works [86,[92][93][94][95][96][97]. An interesting example of its feasibility is the appearance of synchronization in smart grids [36].…”

The Controllability of Power Grids in Comparison with Classical Complex Network Models

“…However, it not only brings considerable economic benefits, but also brings greater uncertainty in grid operation and makes the analysis of operating status and dynamic properties of the power grid more difficult. In recent years, many researchers have paid much attention to analyzing power grids based on the complex network theory [9] in three aspects: to reveal the topology characteristics [10]; to reveal the inherent vulnerabilities and weaknesses [11]; to analyze the mechanism of cascading failures [12]. Since there are relatively few research works on the controllability of power grids, this Letter focuses on this topic according to the controllability research fruits in complex networks.…”