Title: A perspective overview of topological approaches for vulnerability analysis of power transmission grids

Authors: Ettore Bompard; Lingen Luo; Enrico Pons

Addresses: Joint Research Center of the European Commission, Institute for Energy and Transport, P.O. Box 2, NL-1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands ' Dipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 – Torino, Italy ' Dipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 – Torino, Italy

Abstract: Vulnerability analysis is a key issue in power systems since power transmission grids play a crucial role as a critical infrastructure. The power grid structure (number of nodes and lines, their connections, and their physical properties and operational constraints) is one of the main factors to assure power system security. Complex network theory as a promising topological approach for the structural vulnerability analysis has been widely used in many different fields. Recently, many complex network metrics have been proposed to assess the topological vulnerability of power transmission grids. However, these approaches are purely topological and fail in capturing the specific features of power systems. In this paper, an extended topological approach which incorporates electrical features such as flow path, line flow limits, etc., is presented. Three new metrics, net-ability, electrical betweenness and entropy degree are provided and used to assess structural vulnerability in power transmission grids.

Keywords: power transmission; power grids; structural vulnerability analysis; topological approach; net-ability; electrical betweenness; entropy degree; critical infrastructures; complex network analysis; flow path; line flow limits.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2015.067397

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2015 Vol.11 No.1, pp.15 - 26

Received: 05 Jul 2013
Accepted: 05 Jul 2013

Published online: 25 Apr 2015 *

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