Vision 2020: Blackout prevention by combined protection and network security assessment

The paper presents the application of software tools to simulate system dynamic behaviour together with the possibility to select critical contingencies of an electrical energy system. The protection system with relay functions, characteristics, settings and communication schemes will be considered. Possible visualization methods are presented which can support the operators to select critical system states - either of the primary or the protection system. Insecure operating conditions can be monitored in the time domain using the full system representation in real time or by calculating the eigenvalues of the system to monitor weakly damped system states and stability margins. Warnings about unselective protected areas can popup for fast information or they can be shown with the corresponding relays in single-line diagrams as a basis for a new protection coordination study. The locations of short circuits with corresponding trip times and unselective trips or no trips can be monitored in two- or three-dimensional diagrams. The optimized settings can be directly transmitted to relays, which are able to receive the adaptive settings.