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Tree-Partitioning as an Emergency Measure to Contain Cascading Line Failures

Bialek, Janusz W.; Vahidinasab, Vahid

Authors

Janusz W. Bialek



Abstract

This paper proposes to replace controlled islanding, which is a defense mechanism against cascading failures, by tree partitioning whereby some of the tie-lines connecting the clusters are still connected in such a way that the cluster-level graph forms a tree. Tree-partitioning prevents line failures from spreading between clusters, similarly as for islanding, but keeps the clusters connected. That results in three main advantages. Power transfers between the clusters can still take place, helping to balance each cluster and limiting any necessary load shedding. Fewer lines are cut, which reduces the shock to the system. There is no need to re-synchronize the clusters after the emergency. This paper offers a simple graph-theoretic justification for tree-partitioning, rather than one based on the spectral analysis of network Laplacian proposed in the literature. It also proposes a two-stage methodology, which utilizes spectral clustering for splitting a network into tree connected clusters. Test results performed on the 118 node IEEE test network have confirmed the usefulness of the methodology

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 29, 2021
Online Publication Date Jun 8, 2021
Publication Date 2022-01
Deposit Date Feb 19, 2025
Journal IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
Print ISSN 0885-8950
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 37
Issue 1
Pages 467-475
DOI https://doi.org/10.1109/tpwrs.2021.3087601