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POWER SYSTEM SECURITY CONTROL

Power systems are designed to survive all probable contingencies. A contingency is defined as an event that causes one or more important components such as transmission lines, generators, and transformers to be unexpectedly removed from service. Survival means the system stabilizes and continues to operate at acceptable voltage and frequency levels without loss of load. Operations must deal with a vast number of possible conditions experienced by the system, many of which are not anticipated in planning. Instead of dealing with the impossible task of analyzing all possible system states, security control starts with a specific state: the current state if executing the real-time network sequence; a postulated state if executing a study sequence. Sequence means sequential execution of programs that perform the following steps:

1. Determine the state of the system based on either current or postulated conditions.

2. Process a list of contingencies to determine the consequences of each contingency on the system in its specified state.

3. Determine preventive or corrective action for those contingencies which represent unacceptable risk.

Real-time and study network analysis sequences are diagrammed in Fig. 12.3.

Security control requires topological processing to build network models and uses large-scale AC network analysis to determine system conditions. The required applications are grouped as a network subsystem that typically includes the following functions:

• Topology processor: Processes real-time status measurements to determine an electrical connectivity (bus) model of the power system network.

• State estimator: Uses real-time status and analog measurements to determine the ‘‘best’’ estimate of the state of the power system. It uses a redundant set of measurements; calculates voltages, phase angles, and power flows for all components in the system; and reports overload conditions.

• Power flow: Determines the steady-state conditions of the power system network for a specified generation and load pattern. Calculates voltages, phase angles, and flows across the entire system.

• Contingency analysis: Assesses the impact of a set of contingencies on the state of the power system and identifies potentially harmful contingencies that cause operating limit violations.

• Optimal power flow: Recommends controller actions to optimize a specified objective function (such as system operating cost or losses) subject to a set of power system operating constraints.

• Security enhancement: Recommends corrective control actions to be taken to alleviate an existing or potential overload in the system while ensuring minimal operational cost.

• Preventive action: Recommends control actions to be taken in a “preventive” mode before a contingency occurs to preclude an overload situation if the contingency were to occur.

• Bus load forecasting: Uses real-time measurements to adaptively forecast loads for the electrical connectivity (bus) model of the power system network.

• Transmission loss factors: Determines incremental loss sensitivities for generating units; calculates the impact on losses if the output of a unit were to be increased by 1 MW.

• Short-circuit analysis: Determines fault currents for single-phase and three-phase faults for fault locations across the entire power system network.

FIGURE 12.3 Real-time and study network analysis sequences.

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