The equal load-sharing model of cascade failures in power grids

Antonio Scala and Pier Giorgio De Sanctis Lucentini

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2016, vol. 462, issue C, 737-742

Abstract: Electric power-systems are one of the most important critical infrastructures. In recent years, they have been exposed to extreme stress due to the increasing power demand, the introduction of distributed renewable energy sources, and the development of extensive interconnections. We investigate the phenomenon of abrupt breakdown of an electric power-system under two scenarios: load growth (mimicking the ever-increasing customer demand) and power fluctuations (mimicking the effects of renewable sources). Our results indicate that increasing the system size causes breakdowns to become more abrupt; in fact, mapping the system to a solvable statistical-physics model indicates the occurrence of a first order transition in the large size limit. Such an enhancement for the systemic risk failures (black-outs) with increasing network size is an effect that should be considered in the current projects aiming to integrate national power-grids into “super-grids”.

Keywords: Complex networks; Power grid; Mean field models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:462:y:2016:i:c:p:737-742

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2016.06.034

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