Evaluating North American electric grid reliability using the Barabási–Albert network model

Abstract

The reliability of electric transmission systems is examined using a scale-free model of network topology and failure propagation. The topologies of the North American eastern and western electric grids are analyzed to estimate their reliability based on the Barabási-Albert network model. A commonly used power system reliability index is computed using a simple failure propagation model. The results are compared to the values of power system reliability indices previously obtained using standard power engineering methods, and they suggest that scale-free network models are usable to estimate aggregate electric grid reliability.

Optimizing the Structure of Distribution Smart Grids with Renewable Generation against Abnormal Conditions: A Complex Networks Approach with Evolutionary Algorithms

“…In this respect, some other works have also found that there are exponential cumulative degree functions, for instance in the Californian power grid [73] and in the whole U.S. power grid [105]. This notwithstanding, on the other hand, reference [106] has shown that the topologies of the North American eastern and western electric grids can be analyzed based on the Barabasi-Albert network model, with good agreement with the values of power system reliability indices previously obtained from standard power engineering methods. This suggests that scale-free network models are applicable to estimate aggregate electric grid reliability [34].…”

“…The review [33] points out that many works [46,86,89,90,105,106,[108][109][110][111][112] have in common that each power grid has been represented using the simplest graph model: undirected and unweighted. This is because these approaches do not include any characterization of the link weights.…”

Visualizing the Electrical Structure of Power Systems

“…The authors concluded: "there is a tremendous value to leveraging the existing visualization knowledge base to a field that has traditionally not expended significant resources in the area" This paper takes its cue from this exhortation, and also seeks to extend, and articulate, some recent results on electrical connectivity and centrality in empiric power systems. Electrical power systems can be viewed as undirected complex graphs; from this perspective [20], which disregards the physics of electrical power flow, various works [21][22][23][24][25] have sought to classify empiric power systems using such classic topological descriptors as node degree. While consensus has not always been reached, the state of the art allows the synthesis of artificial networks that resemble existing power systems in their topological structure [26].…”

Modeling Smart Grids as Complex Systems Through the Implementation of Intelligent Hubs

“…Barabási and Albert (2002) mapped the topology of a portion of the World Wide Web and found that some nodes, which they called hubs, have many more connections than others and that the network as a whole exhibits a power-law distribution for the number of links connecting to a node. Using the Barabási-Albert network model, Chassin and Posse (2005) analyzed the topologies of the North American electric grid to estimate their reliability and calculated the exponent of scale-free power law as being λ = 3.04 for the U.S. eastern grid and λ = 3.09 for the western one.…”