Automated Handling of Arbitrary Switching Device Topologies in Planning Contingency Analysis: Towards Temporal Interoperability in Network Security Assessment

Existing power system planning software is not capable of simulating large numbers of contingencies that involve bus mergers and bus splits without cumbersome modifications to planning models either manually or through scripting. This means that some of the events that can occur in a bulk power system are not studied in detail prior to real-time operation. This paper proposes the use of a unified network applications framework for planning contingency analysis capable of incorporating contingencies that involve arbitrary configurations of switching devices. The method handles any type of bus split or bus merger events automatically without requiring case conversion or modification. This drastically simplifies the tabulation of results of complex contingencies and makes potential unsecure system conditions visible during the planning stage. The efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated in large-scale ISO models that incorporate full-topology switching modeling, and it is shown to be at least ten times faster than scripting. The proposed method hence supports direct comparison of planning and real-time grid security assessment evaluation, providing full temporal interoperability between offline contingency analysis and real-time security assessment.