An Event-Triggered Hybrid System Model for Cascading Failure in Power Grid

Cascading failure models are important for understanding the mechanism of blackouts and evaluating the control strategies to prevent the failure propagation. The evolution of cascading failure in actual power grid is a continuous dynamic process triggered by discrete events, such as initial disturbances and physical responses. In this paper, we develop an event-triggered hybrid system model to describe the dynamic process of cascading failure. In the model, the evolution of continuous states of power grid is described by differential algebraic equations and the discrete events are defined as transitions between discrete states of power grid. The model also integrates multiple physical responses including relay protection, frequency regulation and dispatching action. Based on the developed model, we propose an event-triggered simulation method of cascading failure to accelerate the simulation process. Compared with the DC power flow model, hidden failure model and topological model, the simulation results of our model are more accurate because the statistical distribution of demand loss in our model is closer to historical blackouts data. The efficiency of the proposed event-triggered method is demonstrated by comparing our model with the time-driven model and three existing models. The experimental results show that our model can trade off the simulation accuracy and time consumption. Note to Practitioners —This paper focuses on modeling the dynamic process of cascading failure with multiple physical responses in power grid. We develop an event-triggered hybrid system model for cascading failure. In the model, the continuous dynamics of power grid and discrete events triggering the evolution of cascading failure are all described by the framework of hybrid system, which is a good example of modeling the hybrid system for automation researchers and engineers. By this way, the model is more accurate in describing the actual characteristics of cascading failure in power grid, and thus supporting the design and evaluation of control strategies for improving the stability of power grid. Based on the developed model, we propose an event-triggered simulation method of cascading failure, which aims to improve simulation accuracy while potentially reducing time consumption. In practice, the model can make fast control strategies to prevent the failure propagation.