Real-time detection of the risk of blackout

This presentation describes an approach to the real-time detection of system conditions that may hide an approaching blackout. Two key issues are addressed: computational speed, required for on-line decision-making, and ease of interpretation of the results, i.e., the ability to see how far is the blackout without having to interpret large amounts of information and to perform complex data analysis chores. Theoretical aspects are analyzed, and a two-step stability limit evaluation paradigm is formulated. Practical aspects are also reviewed and illustrated with actual case studies taken directly from SCADA/EMS installations where the method is currently being used both in real-time and in study-mode. This technique can help system operators and reliability coordinators "foresee whether the transmission loading progresses, or is projected to progress, beyond the operating reliability limit". It is concluded that real-time stability assessment could easily be implemented in most of the existing SCADA/EMS installations if the two-step approach described in this presentation were implemented. First, a quick check of the stability reserve should be performed after each state estimated, power-flow solution and N-1 contingency evaluation. Then, if needed, detailed and extensive stability computations might be triggered to refine the initial results.