Extended Topological Metrics for the Analysis of Power Grid Vulnerability

Abstract

Vulnerability analysis in power systems is a key issue in modern society and many efforts have contributed to the analysis. Recently, complex networks metrics, applied to assess the topological vulnerability of networked systems, have been used in power grids, such as the betweenness centrality. These metrics may be useful for analyzing the topological vulnerability of power systems because of a close link between their topological structure and physical behavior. However, a pure topological approach fails to capture the electrical specificity of power grids. For this reason, an extended topological method has been proposed by incorporating several electrical features, such as electrical distance, power transfer distribution, and line flow limits, into the pure topological metrics. Starting from the purely topological concept of complex networks, this paper defines an extended betweenness centrality which considers the characteristics of power grids and can measure the local importance of the elements in power grids. The line extended betweenness is compared with the topological betweenness and with the averaged power flow on each line over various operational states in the Italian power grid. The results show that the extended betweenness is superior to topological betweenness in the identification of critical components in power grids and at the same time could be a complementary tool to efficiently enhance vulnerability analysis based on electrical engineering methods.

Visualizing the Electrical Structure of Power Systems

“…The recent work of Hines et al [22,33,43] as well as Bompard et al [27,44,45] points towards the role of internode electrical distance measures in elucidating the structural features of power systems. Earlier works have used electric distance measures in a number of roles: [46] introduced nodeto-node voltage attenuation distances and used them in identifying voltage control zones; [47] used the same in assessing system voltage security; [48] to partition a system into localized reactive power markets; [49] used impedance sub-matrices to relate load and generator voltages as a distance metric for transmission use-of-system charging; later, and seemingly independently, Abdelkader et al [50][51][52] used closely related sub-matrices for power flow tracing and loss allocation purposes.…”

“…The PT distance is closely related to the ideas of net-ability and power transfer capacity as described in [44], and also recalls current flow centrality metrics defined for generic graphs [78].…”

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

“…An interesting research line belonging to hybrid approaches is the extended topological approach [34,[82][83][84][85]. It includes in the CN methodology novel metrics such as the "entropy degree".…”

Optimal Allocation of Photovoltaic Systems and Energy Storage Systems based on Vulnerability Analysis

“…Many studies used centrality measures to perform the vulnerability analysis of electric power systems [12][13][14], and this study applies two of them: degree centrality for nodes and betweenness centrality for edges.…”