Challenges and necessities of vulnerability assessment for electricity infrastructures (original) (raw)

Vulnerability Assessment in Power Systems: A Review

Journal of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Control and Computer Science, 2021

Power systems are one of the most multifaceted systems and have a large significance in present society. For stable and continuous operation of such systems, numerous protection methods are compulsory. Although, modern power systems are fortified with numerous protection schemes with the goal of evading the unexpected events, they are still impacted by various emergency and mal-operation conditions. The most severe disturbances put the entire or at least a part of the network at the risk of blackout. If the emergency is not dealt with timely and accurately, the power system is probable to have cascading failures, which ultimately lead to a blackout. Due to the severe impacts, many nations around the world have research teams whose main task is to circumvent blackouts on their systems. Moreover, due to ecological concerns and expensive system expansion, power systems generally operate closer to their limits, which upsurges their vulnerability and possibility of blackouts. With the continuous development of power systems, rise in grid intricacy, and the drift towards deregulated market, vulnerability assessment is critical. It is of great significance to include vulnerability in power system planning and operating procedures, as it is the key to accurate assessment of power system security and stability. Thus, this paper aims to review the concept of vulnerability assessment in power systems and the associated research. This review can be a great starting point for researchers in the domain of power system security and vulnerability.

Vulnerability Assessment in Power Systems: A Review and Representing Novel Perspectives

2020 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM), 2020

Due to environmental impacts and high cost of transmission network expansion, power systems are loaded closer to their limits, which increases their vulnerability and possible blackouts. In this paper, the recent literature in the steady-state vulnerability assessment (SSVA) and dynamic vulnerability assessment (DVA) are classified and reviewed. After finding the research gaps arising from the current literature review, several systematic ideas are presented in terms of designing a modular framework with a generalized index to determine the vulnerable areas of system, integrated T&D system vulnerability assessment, and vulnerability of PMUs to cyber-attacks.

The concept of vulnerability and resilience in electric power systems

Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 2021

The electric power system is one of the most vital infrastructures, and its security is necessary for the proper functioning of society. The main goal for the electric power system has traditionally been continuity of the electrical power supply. However, in addition to this requirement, power systems must follow the requirements associated with vulnerability and resilience. Vulnerability deals with the assessment of risk, as it relates to physical and economic consequences, arising from the capability of the network to handle an undesirable incident. Resilience deals with the network capability to withstand unknown disturbances, and consequently, the ability to restore stable operating conditions. Despite some research on power system resilience and vulnerability, their basic concepts are still unexplored. This paper aims to discuss the essential concepts of vulnerability and resilience in electric power systems. Their assessment frameworks and quantification metrics are also described. Case studies, on standard test systems, to demonstrate the assessment of power system vulnerability and resilience, are also part of this research.

Review of major approaches to analyze vulnerability in power system

Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 2018

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Highlights  Review of literature (about 300 papers) on vulnerability analysis of power system,  Identify three classes of events: natural hazards, intentional and random failures,  Categorize methods: complex network, flow based, logical and functional methods,  Present the pros and cons of each approach and correlation between their results,  Present new concern: N-k criteria, robustness & optimality and system evolutions.

Structural vulnerability analysis of electric power distribution grids

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2016

Power grid outages cause huge economical and societal costs. Disruptions in the power distribution grid are responsible for a significant fraction of electric power unavailability to customers. The impact of extreme weather conditions, continuously increasing demand, and the over-ageing of assets in the grid, deteriorates the safety of electric power delivery in the near future. It is this dependence on electric power that necessitates further research in the power distribution grid security assessment. Thus measures to analyse the robustness characteristics and to identify vulnerabilities as they exist in the grid are of utmost importance. This research investigates exactly those concepts-the vulnerability and robustness of power distribution grids from a topological point of view, and proposes a metric to quantify them with respect to assets in a distribution grid. Real-world data is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed metric as a tool to assess the criticality of assets in a distribution grid.

Development of Indicators to Monitor Vulnerabilities in Power systems

2012

Monitoring vulnerabilities has the potential to be an essential part of power system asset management both for network companies and regulatory authorities. Vulnerability can be defined as an internal attribute of the electric power system regarding susceptibility and coping capacity towards a certain threat. Previous studies have revealed that there is a need for new knowledge on vulnerabilities in the power system including interdependencies with other infrastructures. This paper gives an overview of the state of the art in literature regarding indicators to measure the vulnerability of an infrastructure and more specifically of the power system related to extraordinary events. The needs for vulnerability indicators are identified and discussed, and a common framework and basis of essential terms for vulnerability indicators is proposed. Furthermore, a multi-step approach for developing vulnerability indicators is presented. Examples are given of possible indicators for the power system.

System vulnerability as a concept to assess power system dynamic security

IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 1994

The concept of system vulnerability is introduced as a new framework for power system dynamic security assessment. This new concept combines information on the level of security and its trend with changing system condition. In this paper the transient energy function (TEF) method is used as a tool of analysis. The energy margin AV is used as an indicator of the level of security, and its sensitivity @AV/@) to a changing system parameter p as an indicator of its trend. The thresholds for acceptable levels of the security indicator (AV) and its trend (aAV/ap) are related to the stability limits of a critical system parameter. A method is proposed to determine these thresholds using heuristic techniques derived from operating practices and policies for a change in plant generation. Results from the IEEE 50 generator test system are presented to illustrate the procedure.

Vulnerability assessment and allocation of protection resources in power systems

… . Proceedings of the …, 2001

In electrical power grids, there exists the potential for disturbances, even small ones, to trigger cascading collapse and blackout of large portions of the grid. In this paper we propose a simple cascading collapse model. The purpose of the model is to identify topological and component differences that can be exploited for the allocation of protection resources , and in ,designing preventive maintenance schedules. .'NudericaI "example; are given to illustrate how the model can be used for protection enhancements and in designing preventive maintenance schedules that reduce vulnerabilities due to hidden failures.

An Integrated Framework For Power And ICT System Risk- Based Security Assessment

Power system (PS) is exposed to natural and man-related threats which may affect the security of power supply, depending on the vulnerabilities of the system to the threats themselves as well as on the pre-fault operating conditions. Threats regard not only the power components, but also the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems involved in PS control and protection. The resulting picture is characterized by significant uncertainties, especially as far as high impact, low probability (HILP) events (typical causes of blackout events) are concerned. These considerations call for the adoption of novel techniques to perform more in-depth security analyses, able to identify the contributions of the different threats and vulnerabilities to the overall operational risk. The paper describes a probabilistic risk-based methodology, developed within the European Union (EU) research project AFTER (A Framework for electrical power sysTems vulnerability identification, dEfense and Restoration), aiming to perform risk assessment (by means of hazard, vulnerability, and impact analysis) of the integrated power and ICT systems. Initial results of the approach are described with reference to a test system.