Online Identification of Power System Network Branch Events

Abstract

The electric power grid infrastructure is the most critically important man-made system in use today, particularly since all other infrastructures depend on the reliability of a robust electrical infrastructure. The smart grid transformation enables the real-time situational awareness through synchronized measurements. The communication network capable of bi-directional communication is responsible for the full connectivity of all the measurement and control units. In the power system, the transmission network is the bridge between the bulk generation and distribution system. The reliability of the power system is highly dependent on the successful operation of the geographically distributed transmission network and its components. Power system network branch outages, which may occur due to number of reasons, may result in either partial or complete blackout of the power system. The smart grid is a cyber-physical system. The cyber-physical systems are vulnerable to cyber and physical attacks. In this paper transmission network branch outage identification using phasor measurement units is investigated. Real-time digital simulator based simulation platform has been used. Admittance matrix based approach and neural network approach are investigated and performances evaluated.