Structure and stability of the Indian power transmission network

Abstract

We present the study on the Indian power transmission network using the framework of a complex network and quantify its structural properties. For this, we build the network structure underlying the Indian power grid, using two of its most prevalent power lines. We construct an equivalent model of an exponential network and study its structural changes with changes in two parameters related to redundancy and dead-ends. Then we analyze its stability against cascading failures by varying these two parameters using the link failure model. This helps to gain insight into the relation of network topology to its stability, and indicates how the optimum choice of these parameters can result in a power grid structure with minimum failed links. We apply the same model to study the robustness of the Indian power grid against such failures. In this case, we find that when a link connected to a generator fails, it results in a cascade that spreads in the grid until it is split into two separate stable clusters of generators and consumers, with over one-third of its nodes nonfunctional.