Prevention and Mitigation of Cascading Outages

in Power Grids Using Synchrophasor-based

Wide-Area Measurements
Kai Sun
Project Manager
Grid Operations, Planning & Renewable Integration
Email: ksun@epri.com Tel: 650-8552087

May 8, 2012 @ Stanford University

 Content

• Cascading outages (impacts, causes, new

challenges
h ll and
d solutions)
l ti )
• Intelligent system separation utilizing
synchrophasors
•S
Situational
tuat o a awareness
a a e ess ut
utilizing
g wide-area
de a ea
measurements (DOE demonstration project)
• Conclusions

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

 Blackouts of Power Grids
Date Area Impacts
p Duration
Nov 9, 1965 North America (NE) 20,000+MW, 30M people 13 hrs

Jul 13, 1977 North America (NY) 6,000MW, 9M people 26 hrs

Dec 22, 1982 North America (W) 12, 350 MW, 5M people

Jul 2-3, 1996 North America (W) 11,850 MW, 2M people 13 hrs

Aug 10,
10 1996 North America (W) 28 000+MW 7.5M
28,000+MW, 7 5M people 9 hrs

Jun 25, 1998 North America (N-C) 950 MW, 0.15MK people 19 hrs

Mar 11, 1999 Brazil 90M people hrs

Aug 14, 2003 North America (N- 61,800MW, 50M people 2+ days
E)
Sep 13, 2003 Italy 57M people 5-9 hrs

S 23,
Sep 23 2003 S d &D
Sweden Denmark
k 5M people
l 5h
hrs

Nov 4, 2006 Europe 15M households 2 hrs

Nov 10, 2009 Brazil & Paraguay 17,000MW, 80M people, 18 7hrs
states
Feb 4, 2011 Brazil 53M people, 8
states
Sep 8, 2011 US & Mexico (S-W) 4,300MW, 5M people 12hrs
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
 Causes of a blackout 970 MW loss

Blackout event in Aug. 1996

1 Initial events (15:42:03):
1. 2 100 MW lloss
2,100
Short circuit due to tree contact ->
Outages of 6 transformers and lines
2 Vulnerable conditions (minutes)
2. 11 600 MW loss
11,600

Low-damped oscillations->
Outages of generators and tie-lines 15,820MW loss
3. Blackouts (seconds)
Grid separated into islands ->
Loss of 24% load
Malin-Round Mountain #1 MW
15:48:51
Can we do anything
1500
15:42:03 15:47:36
1400

1300
0.276
0 276 Hz oscillations to stop cascade?
0 252 Hz
0.252 H oscillations
ill ti
1200 Damping>7% 0.264 Hz oscillations Damping 1%
3.46% Damping
1100
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Time in Seconds
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 4
 New Challenges from Integration of Renewables

1. Reliability and congestion issues with long-distance

power transmission

Legend:
• Wind
• People

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

 New Challenges from Integration of Renewables
(
(cont’)
)
2. More uncertainties in real-time operation

Mismatch in supply
Inaccuracy in short-term and
d demand
d d curves
forecasting

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 6

New Challenges from Integration of Renewables
(
(cont’)
)

3. Changing the grid’s dynamics

From OG&E synchrophasor presentation

Better monitoring applications are needed at the

control
t l room ffor real-time
l ti situational
it ti l awareness
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 7
 Synchrophasor based Wide-Area
Measurement System (WAMS)

Oscillation Mode Analysis

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

 Prevention of Cascading Outages

• Power System Stability Assessment: • Limitations:

– Too manyy system
y conditions
Offline probabilistic anal
analysis
sis on
– Combinatorial explosion of N-k
system vulnerabilities and
contingencies
potential cascading outages
– Inaccuracy in simulation models
Simulation-based contingency
analysis
4600 Observed COI Power (Dittmer Control Center)

4400
Measured
4200

Real-time stability analysis using 4000

wide-area
id measurements t 4600 Simulated COI Power (initial WSCC base case)

4400

Simulation
Simulation-based approach 4200

4000

+ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Measurement-based approach
Time in Seconds

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

 Intelligent System Separation

Blackstart Restoration

I iti l events
Initial t

Cascading blackouts I t lli t separation

Intelligent ti

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 10

 Key Questions on System Separation

Q
Question
i N
Nature

WHERE Network optimization

(locations)

WHEN Nonlinear system

(ti i )
(timing) stability
HOW Implementation of
(
(control)
t l) control
t l strategies
t t i

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 11

 Three-Step Approach

• Offline Studies (daily ~ yearly)

– Synchrophasors
S h h siting
iti (near
( generators)
t )
Offline Where
procedure – Separation point optimization
– Validation of a control-strategy table How

• Online Monitoring (every second)

– Identify most vulnerable grid interface based on the shape Where
Online of the dominant oscillation mode
software – Predict the timing of instability on the interface When

• Real-Time Control (milliseconds)

– Perform a control strategy
gy matching
g the current condition How

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

 WHERE to Separate Generation
Coherencyy

1. Cluster generators into coherent

groups (by EPRI DYNRED software) Slow mode
2 Reduce
2. R d th
the network
t kbby graph
h th
theory (weak connection) Fast mode
(strong connection)

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 13

 WHEN to Separate

• Modal analysis
– Identify the dominant oscillation mode by synchrophasors
– Predict a vulnerable grid interface from the mode’s shape (phasing)

k




t
  ki
M  ki t
 k (t )   k 0   Aki e 1 ki2
cos( ki t  ki )
i 1
“Phase Clock” on mode i
Monitored Oscillation
O ill ti Phasing
variable frequency (mode shape)

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 14

 WHEN to Separate (cont’) PMU1
PMU2

Area 1  Area 2
• Stability analysis
– Estimate the state of a simplified
model about the interface
– Predict instability using the
energy function of the model

Boundary of Stability
State estimation on a simplified model

Equilibrium point v

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 15

 Example: 179-bus System

System loses stability

after 6 line outages

6 5
1 2
California-Oregon
3 Intertie
4

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 16

 Example: 179-bus System (cont’)
“Phase
Phase Clock
Clock” about

1
0.2Hz mode
5
1-2 (120-160s)
Strategy 1-234
4 Dominant mode 1-3
1-4
(120-160s)
(120-160s)
1-2 (160-200s)
1-3 (160-200s)
3
FFT
T

1-4 (160-200s)

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 0.2Hz
Frequency (Hz)

Frequency of the mode

1-2 4
2
0.28 1-3
1-4
0.26
Frequency(Hz)

0.24

0.22

0.2

0.18

0.16
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (
Ti (s)
)

Phasing (shape) on the mode

180
PhaseDifference(deg.)

120

60

3
-60 1-2
1-3
-120 1-4
-180
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 Strategy 14-23
Time (s)
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 17
 Example: 179-bus System (cont’)

180
• Perform strategy 1-234 once the
angle distance exceeds a threshold
P h a s e D iffe re n c e (d e g .)

• Shed 4.9% system load

1-234
90 14-23

0
40 80 120 160 200 210
Time (s)
180
1-234
160
A n g e D iffe re n c e (d e g .)

14-23
140
120
100
80
60
40
40 80 120 160 200 210
Time (s)
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 18
 Synchrophasor-based Situational Awareness
and Decision Support
pp
Online Monitoring Real-time Stability Assessment

Key Risk
Interface

Phase Clock on
Dominant oscillation mode the mode Simplified model on the interface Time

Phasor data
Scenario N
Scenario 2 Risk &
Scenario 1 Control
Timing
Look-Up Table

Control Action

Visualization at Control Room

Interconnected Power System
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 19
DOE Synchrophasor Demonstration Project
((DOE Grant #DE-OE0000128;; 2009-2012))
Real-time PMU Data (IEEE C37.118)

Online Event
Detection

• Phase 1
(research) Location of Near Real-Time Early Warning of
Disturbance Event Replay
p y Grid Instabilityy
• Phase 2 (software
development)
Power System
y Wide-Area
• Phase
Ph 3 Visualization
(demonstration at
TVA in 2012))

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 20

 Performance Testing Using Simulated or Real
Synchrophasor Data

Separation
strategies

PMU_Config.XML
Contingencies
g
DSA Tool

SQL
Models
PMU_Data.CSV
database

Historical
Data
Software
A li ti
Application

PMU data stream in

IEEEC37.118
IEEEC37 118 Energy
E
Management
System data
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 21
 Tests on Simulated WECC PMUs

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 22

 Separating the grid when risk=100%

Island 1

Island 2

Frequencies before Control Frequencies after Separation

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 23
 Tests on Simulated TVA PMU Data

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 24

 Conclusions
• Online situational awareness and decision support
applications are important for grid operators to
prevent or mitigate cascading outages
• Wide-area
Wide area synchrophasor measurements would
enable next-generation grid monitoring applications
• Technologies to help prevent cascading outages are
such as
– System
y reduction (topological
( p g and dynamical)
y )
– Signal processing
– Data mining

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 25

 References

[1] K. Sun, D. Zheng, Q. Lu. Splitting Strategies for Islanding Operation of Large-scale Power Systems
Using OBDD-based Methods, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol.18, May 2003
[2] Q. Zhao, K. Sun, et al, A Study of System Splitting Strategies for Island Operation of Power System: A
Two-phase Method Based on OBDDs, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol.18, Nov 2003
[3] K. Sun, D. Zheng, et al, Searching for Feasible Splitting Strategies of Controlled System Islanding,
IEE Proceedings Generation, Transmission & Distribution, vol.153, Jan 2006
[4] K. Sun, D. Zheng, Q. Lu, A Simulation Study of OBDD-based Proper Splitting Strategies for Power
Systems under Consideration of Transient Stability, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vo.l.20, Feb 2005
[5] M. Jin, T. S. Sidhu, K. Sun, A New System Splitting Scheme Based on the Unified Stability Control
Framework, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, y vol. 22, Feb 2007
[6] K. Sun, S. Likhate, V. Vittal, et al, An Online Dynamic Security Assessment Scheme using Phasor
Measurements and Decision Trees, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol. 22, Nov 2007.
[7] R. Diao, V. Vittal, K. Sun, et al, Decision Tree Assisted Controlled Islanding for Preventing Cascading
Events,, IEEE PES PSCE,, Seattle,, 2009
[8] K. Sun, S. Lee, P. Zhang, An Adaptive Power System Equivalent for Real-time Estimation of Stability
Margin using Phase-Plane Trajectories, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol. 26, May 2011.
[9] K. Sun, K. Hur, P. Zhang, A New Unified Scheme for Controlled Power System Separation Using
Synchronized Phasor Measurements, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol. 26, No. 3, Aug. 2011

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 26

 Q&A

Kai Sun
Ph
Phone: 650
650-855-2087
855 2087
E-Mail: ksun@epri.com

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 27

 NERC Categories of Contingencies
• Most utilities manually
select Category D
Co
onsequencce Index

contingencies to simulate:
– Loss of a key
Unlikely Credible
substation
and and – Outages of tie lines
Extreme consequences Unacceptable
– Outages close to a
generation/load pocket

D
0 Unlikely Credible
and C and
Acceptable Acceptable Deterministic Generator Outage
B A Criteria N-1 Line Outage
Category of Contingencies N-2 Line Outage
Extreme Events
When System is Stressed (e.g. Storm Likelihood Index
Approaching), the likelihood may increase
© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 28
 Northeast Coherent Generation Groups

From NPCC (Northeast Power Coordinating Council) Study Results

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 29

 Building a strategy table 1 PG=28.3GW
PL=26.4GW

Total load: 60.8GW

• 7 potential separation points
• 6 strategies
g ((2 islands):
) PG=12.5GW
=12 5GW
1-234, 2-134, 3-124, 4-123 PL=10.6GW
12-34, 14-23 4
• 12 potential islands
2
• Validate control actions by PG=5.1GW
simulations PL=6.4GW
Shed Shed
Island Island Load
Load

1 0 23 7.3%
2 3 6%
3.6% 34 1 5%
1.5%
3 3.8% 124 0
4 0 123 4.1%
12 0 234 4.9% PG=15.5GW
14 0 134 0 3 PL=17.4GW

© 2012 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 30