Optimal Grid Reconfiguration Algorithm for Improving System Resilience under Extreme Weather Events

Abstract

Due to global warming, the number of extreme weather events has increased in the last ten years. Consequently, the number of power system blackouts has also increased in this period. The reliability index is incapable of analyzing the power system behavior during these events because it does not account for extreme weather events for its calculation. Therefore, the resilience index is proposed for measuring the system functionality during extreme weather events. To increase the resilience value of the system, its functionality during such events must be increased. One way to achieve this is through the reconfiguration of the power system, to ensure that the parts of the power system which do not experience failure remain operational even during the extreme weather events. This paper proposes an algorithm to determine the optimal reconfiguration of the power system to increase the grid resilience. First, it applies the actual condition of the system during the extreme weather events. Then, the algorithm finds the islanded buses in the power system using bus injection to bus current (BIBC) matrix. Finally, the algorithm utilizes a genetic algorithm to find the optimal reconfiguration for the system. The results show that the reconfiguration strategy can be utilized to increase the system resilience under similar extreme weather events.