Title: Cascade failures and distributed generation in power grids

Authors: Antonio Scala; Sakshi Pahwa; Caterina M. Scoglio

Addresses: ISC-CNR – Institute of Complex Systems, Department of Physics, University of Rome 'Sapienza', P.le Moro 5, 00185 Rome Italy; IMT – Institutions Market Technology, Piazza S. Ponziano 6, 55100, Lucca, Italy; LIMS – London Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 22 Audley Street, London, UK ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University, 2069 Rathbone Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

Abstract: Power grids are nowadays experiencing a transformation due to the introduction of distributed generation based on renewable sources. At difference with classical distributed generation, where local power sources mitigate anomalous user consumption peaks, renewable sources introduce in the grid intrinsically erratic power inputs. By introducing a simple schematic (but realistic) model for power grids with stochastic distributed generation, we study the effects of erratic sources on the robustness of several IEEE power grid test networks with up to 2 × 10³ buses. We find that increasing the penetration of erratic sources causes the grid to fail with a sharp transition. We compare such results with the case of failures caused by the natural increasing power demand.

Keywords: distributed generation; DC power models; cascading failures; first-order transition; power grids; modelling; renewable energy; erratic power inputs; critical infrastructures.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2015.067395

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2015 Vol.11 No.1, pp.27 - 35

Received: 03 Jul 2013
Accepted: 03 Jul 2013

Published online: 25 Apr 2015 *

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