Short Course on

Power System Security Assessment

Mohamed A El-Sharkawi

Department of Electrical Engineering

University of Washington

Seattle, WA 98195

Course Description

The purpose of vulnerability assessment is to determine the ability of the power system to continue providing service in case of an unforeseen, but probable, catastrophic contingency. A power system can become vulnerable for various reasons, including major component failures, communication interruptions, human errors, unfavorable weather conditions, and even sabotage. A power system is invulnerable if it withstands all postulated credible contingencies without violating any of the system constraints.  If there is at least one contingency (or one sequence of events) for which the system constraints are violated, the system is said to be vulnerable or insecure.  Vulnerable system could experience a catastrophic failure of system components leading to blackouts that often affect large portions of the power network, and typically millions of customers.

Course Topics:

Concept of Power System Security

Power System Models

Static Security Assessment

Power System Model for Static Security Assessment

Contingency selection

Contingency Evaluation

Dynamic Security Assessment (DSA)

Power System Model for Dynamic Security Assessment

Features of Dynamic Security Assessment

DAS based on Systems Eigenvalues

DAS based on Lyapunov function

DSA based on Critical Clearing Time

DSA based on Energy Margin

DSA based on Second Kick Method

Challenges of On-line Security Assessment

Computational time

Contingency list

Cascaded events

Operating conditions

Topology change

Security Assessment Border

Concept of security border

Security Index

Border identification

Border tracking

Security Control and Event Response

System Vulnerability

System control to enhance system invulnerability

Advanced Computational Techniques for DSA

Advantages of using Intelligent Techniques

DSA model based on Neural Networks

DSA Border generation based on inverted neural Networks

Evolutionary Computation for border identification

Particle Swarm Optimization for border tracking

 

Benefits

Participants will understand the concept of power system security and will be familiar with the various methods of analyzing the system vulnerability.

 Target Audience

· Electric utility employees who need greater understanding of system security.

· System operators

· Public agency and regulatory staff with responsibility for electric power issues.

· Engineers with and without a background in power systems