Vulnerability assessment and allocation of protection resources in power systems

In electrical power grids, there exists the potential for disturbances, even small ones, to trigger cascading collapse and blackout of large portions of the grid. In this paper we propose a simple cascading collapse model. The purpose of the model is to identify topological and component differences that can be exploited for the allocation of protection resources and in designing preventive maintenance schedules. Numerical examples are given to illustrate how the model can be used for protection enhancements and in designing preventive maintenance schedules that reduce vulnerabilities due to hidden failures