A new model to analyze power system dependencies

In a power systems context, dependency implies the reliance of certain system entities on the functioning of other system entities. Finding the appropriate level of abstraction for modeling power system dependency is a non-trivial task. This is true as a detailed study might be computationally intensive, while analysis done at a highly aggregated level might not provide very useful information. In this paper, a new model is proposed to analyze power system dependencies, which overcomes the limitations of existing models. A formal description of the model along with its working dynamics and a brief validation with respect to the 2011 Southwest Blackout are provided. The results indicate that this model is able to successfully capture the complex dependencies that exist in a modern power system.