Optimal transmission path search in power system restoration

Power system restoration is important for system planning and operation. It enables a grid to be restored from major outages efficiently and safely. The restoration process can be divided to three stages: starting generators, establishing transmission network, and restoring load services. After determining the start-up sequence of generating units, it is critical to find the shortest transmission path to energize transmission network using cranking power from available generators. This paper identified a set of logical constraints for transmission network energization, and formulated the transmission path search as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. These constraints could be easily incorporated with other restoration actions such as starting up generating units. Simulation results based on IEEE 39-bus test case demonstrate that the proposed MILP-based transmission path search algorithm is highly efficient and the restoration duration is significantly reduced.