IMPLEMENTING SINGLE OUTAGE

CONTINGENCY (N-1) OPERATIONAL CRITERION

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Grid Management Committee executes this consensus on the interpretation of the Single
Outage Contingency (N-1) criterion necessary for Transmission Network Planning as much
as it is vital to provide operational guidelines for the System Operator in operating the Grid.
Section 6.2.2.3 of the Philippine Grid Code provides that: The Security and Reliability of the
Grid shall be based on the Single Outage Contingency criterion. This criterion specifies that
the Grid shall continue to operate in the Normal State following the loss of one Generating
Unit, transmission line, or transformer.
The provision on the N-1 has been previously an occasional subject in various Committee and
Subcommittee discussions as well as public consultations while the proposed amendments to
the Philippine Grid Code were processed for review and collaborative scrutiny. It was also
resolved for referral to the third party consultant, Mr. Jorge Bircher from AF Mercados, to study
and compare international practices and recommend to the Philippine Grid Code what is
optimal for our system.
The consultant responded that the N-1 criterion is an operational criterion meaning it shall be
applied to the existing network at a particular moment whether there may be planned or
unplanned outages that may exist at a particular moment. If the criterion is fulfilled, this implies
that the system shall be capable to support a predefined contingency, operating after that, with
a particular minimum performance.
Put simply, the Normal State of the system specified under PGC 6.2.1.1 should be preserved
for as long as functionally operative and the System Operator may only perform necessary
manual adjustments, should there be a breach in the required minimum level of performance
of the grid, in order to restore the grid to Normal State.
From this time, the Committee has established credible single outage contingencies from
where the robustness of the grid can be evaluated. A set of technical performance Rules for
the grid is postulated following the occurrence of a single outage contingency; which are to be
rigorously observed to deem the system compliant to N-1 criterion.
Meanwhile, where the existing network configuration lacks support to comply with the N-1, a
temporary stop-gap measure is recommended such as the System Integrity Protection
Scheme (SIPS) until such time that the network is improved per requirement. Where it is
reasonably unable to employ an SIPS, the operations of the grid may be disrupted during a
contingency that has already breached the cited Rules by manual adjustments including redispatching, power flow control, re-configuration and manual load dropping to restore normal
operations of the grid.
Finally, it is a common understanding in the Committee that this principle of the Single Outage
Contingency (N-1) criterion is to be incorporated in the impending amendment of the Philippine
Grid Code based on its intended interpretations delving on the reliable operation of the grid.

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II. Technical Criteria for the Transmission Network

The technical criteria for the transmission system planning are used for the technical evaluation of the
candidate projects for transmission network reinforcements.
Technical criteria includes:
A) The N-1 criterion,
B) Voltage and Reactive Power criterion,
C) Short-circuit criterion, and
D) Stability criterion.
In system operations, the N-1 criterion is deterministic and it requires that the system be able to tolerate
the outage of any one component without disruption and does not concern itself with the probability of
an outage. Even if an outage is highly unlikely, the criterion is still generally applied because system
failure due to a lost component is unacceptable.1
The cost of meeting this criterion is not questioned; the criterion is generally considered fundamental
as the need to balance generation and load.2
III. The Single Outage Contingency (N-1) Criterion Definition
The N-1 Criterion is a criterion where the Grid, following a credible contingency event (specified in
A), is required to be capable to operate within certain minimum performance (specified in B).
A. Credible contingencies related to N-1 Criterion
The N-1 Criterion is related to one of the following contingencies:
(A.1)

Loss of a single-circuit overhead interconnection or internal line, except those radial

circuits which connect loads using a single overhead line or cable;

(A.2)

Loss of one circuit of a double-circuit overhead interconnection or internal line;

(A.3)

Loss of submarine cable;

(A.4)

Loss of a single transformer, except those which connect loads using a single radial
transformer;

(A.5)

Loss of a generator, whether grid-connected or embedded; and

(A.6)

Loss of Shunt devices such as Capacitor/Reactor/SVC.

B. Rules for a Minimum Grid Performance following an N-1 event

The N-1 criterion is satisfied if, after a single system element has failed (e.g. transmission line,
transformer, generating unit, etc.), the following Rules are observed:
(B.1)

No breach of the limiting values for network operation variables (i.e. operation voltage,
frequency) that may endanger the security of the power system or lead to an
unacceptable strain on equipment, damage, destruction or an inadmissible reduction in
the life of equipment.
These variables should be satisfactory for consumers and generating units;

1
2

Transmission System Operation and Interconnection, Alvarado and Oren

-do-

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Table 1: Voltage scale

Voltage
Level

Normal Conditions

Voltage
Deviation

N-1 Conditions

Vmin (pu) Vmax (pu) Vmin (pu) Vmax (pu) Normal

69 kV
0.95
1.05
0.9
1.1
5%
138 kV
0.95
1.05
0.9
1.1
5%
230 kV
0.95
1.05
0.9
1.1
5%
500 kV
0.95
1.05
0.9
1.1
5%
(Voltages are relative to the Nominal Voltage of the system considered)

N-1
10%
10%
10%
10%

Table 2: Frequency scale

Normal Conditions
Low
59.7 Hz

High
60.3 Hz

N-1 Conditions
Low
59.4 Hz

High
60.6 Hz

Frequency
Deviation
Normal
0.3 Hz

N-1
0.6 Hz

(B.2)

No equipment/transmission line loading has exceeded 100% of its operational thermal

limit capacity;

(B.3)

Interruptions of supply are avoided;

(B.4)

Secondary tripping through activation of further protection devices on equipment not

directly affected by the disturbance such that there is no risk of spreading the
disturbance;

(B.5)

There is no need to change or interrupt power transfers and generation dispatch; and

(B.6)

The loss of generating unit stability is avoided.

IV. Single Outage Contingency (N-1) Criterion Applicability under System Operations
The N-1 criterion is a minimum system security measure that the System Operator should model
the transmission network to address redundancy avoiding potential power interruptions and/or
system failure.
In case an element/s of the existing network lacks N-1 security, a temporary stopgap measure such
as the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) should be made available for the time being that
a permanent network improvement is pending.

A. System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) for system stopgap security

Following an N-1 event where the Rules specified under III (B.1-B.6) are compromised resulting
to an irreversible deviation from the Normal State, a temporary security measure such as the
SIPS should be employed to avoid subsistence of an Emergency State.
The temporary employment of SIPS should only be specific to parts of the system determined
to be exposed to a high degree of likelihood for a secondary contingency (N-1-1) or a
subsequent multiple contingency (N-x) such that the risk of cascaded blackout is avoided.
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B. System Operations Intervention following an N-1 event

If the SIPS cannot be otherwise employed, the System Operator shall engage below corrective
interventions where appropriate, within 30 minutes from the inception of the event, in order to
restore the system to Normal State:
(B.1) Generator re-dispatching
(B.2)

Usage of voltage and/or power flow control on regulation transformers

(B.3)

Network re-configuration

(B.4)

Manual Load Dropping (MLD)

For the avoidance of doubt, the system or any part thereof should be operated up to its designed
permissible limits beyond which the System Operator should only intercept to restore it back to
such state.

V. Transmission Facilities non-compliant to Single Outage (N-1) Criterion

As a general principle, for a transmission facility that is not compliant with the N-1 criterion, a
System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) should be employed only as a stop-gap measure and
should not be preferred over an improved reinforcement of the system.

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