Abstract
Communication is increasingly present for managing and controlling critical infrastructures strengthening their cyber interdependencies. In electric power systems, grid splitting is a topical communication-critical application. It amounts to separating a power system into islands in response to an impending instability, e.g., loss of generator synchronism due to a component fault, by appropriately disconnecting transmission lines and grouping synchronous generators. The successful application of grid splitting depends on the communication infrastructure to collect system-wide synchronized measurements and to relay the command to open line switches. Grid splitting may be ineffective if communication is degraded and its outcome may also depend on the system loading conditions. This paper investigates the effects of degraded communication and load variability on grid splitting. To this aim, a communication delay model is coupled with a transient electrical model and applied to the IEEE 39-Bus and the IEEE 118-Bus Test System. Case studies show that the loss of generator synchronism following a fault is mitigated by timely splitting the network into islands. On the other hand, the results show that communication delays and increased network flows can degrade the performance of grid splitting. The developed framework enables the identification of the requirements of the dedicated communication infrastructure for a successful grid-splitting procedure.
Highlights
Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have increased cyber interdependencies in critical infrastructures (CIs) due to their widespread computerization and automation over the last several decades [1]
Electric power networks are affected by cyber interdependencies because they rely on communication networks, e.g., supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, to transmit measurement signals to control centers, which use the communication network to dispatch control actions [2]
Scenario 3 shows that the outcome of the stabilization attempt by grid splitting depends on the parameters of the communication infrastructure and that it will be unsuccessful if communication is degraded
Summary
Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have increased cyber interdependencies in critical infrastructures (CIs) due to their widespread computerization and automation over the last several decades [1]. ICT is expected to play a key role in meeting the current and upcoming challenges that the electric power system is confronted with, which include the operation closer to stability limits This shift in operating conditions is caused by increased loading of the transmission network and higher peak loads. The successful application of grid splitting depends on the communication infrastructure to collect system-wide synchronized measurements for state estimation based on which system stability is assessed. A multi-machine power system including models of the generators, the electric network and the loads is used to simulate operating conditions, under which a loss of synchronism between generators following a component fault occurs. A model of the communication time delay for the transmission of measurements and line switch opening signals is applied with different communication network parameters to simulate the necessary flow.
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