A bounding criterion for efficient contingency screening

This paper presents an efficient bounding method suitable for fast contingency screening. It is based on real power flow distribution factors relative to selected network branches of an interest area centered around the outaged branch. The maximum amount of real power flow leaving the interest area serves as a bound on the change in line flow across the branches outside the area considered. The implementation of the proposed approach exploits the method´s ability to keep the number of endangered branches limited to any preselected value. The proposed method is validated by extensive testing with reference to both IEEE test networks and actual power systems of Italian, European and North American origin