An investigation into cascading failure in large-scale electric grids: A load-redistribution approach

Abstract

In this study, we propose a load-redistribution-based practical cascading failure model that analyses the dynamic behaviour of a power system upon the occurrence of node failures. The proposed model pays particular attention to the load model and its role in modelling the cascade. Both naturally-induced and deliberateman-made node failures are incorporated in the proposedmodel for three typical network topologies-scale-free, small-world and Erdös-Rényi random networks-to demonstrate the validity of the proposed model and the extent of cascading failure. The load-based cascading failure model is validated using the data obtained from a real-world power grid, and the robustness and vulnerability when subjected to node failures are analysed and presented.