Iran national grid blackout, power system protection point of view

During last few years some catastrophic failures of power systems have been experienced throughout different regions of the world. Although power network blackouts had also been experienced in the past, it seems that the frequency of their occurrence has increased recently. Lack of sufficient investment in power systems accompanied with the more complex exploitation regulations could be considered as some of the consequences of the new deregulated power systems. As a result, even more system blackouts might be experienced in the future. Digital protection of power systems is proved to be a promising and flexible technology. Digital control and protection techniques accompanied with power system substation automation technology are being used more and more recently. While system restructuring is reducing power system margins and endanger system stability, the new technology offers new adaptive solutions in the forms of implementing novel concepts as well as using system wide protective defense schemes. In this paper, one of the major blackouts in the Iran national grid is studied. Some suggestions and solutions are also given which could improve the system performance during abnormal events and conditions.