Complex Networks Theory: A New Method of Research in Power Grid

The rapid development of complex network theory provide a new insight into the research of interconnected complex power grid. On the basis of mapping the power grid into a network graph, the topological parameters, such as degree distribution, characteristic path length, clustering coefficient etc, are introduced to describe the network structure characters. And the statistical results of these parameters in power grids of China and American are shown and analyzed. Then, small-world model are explained and simulated to the power grid. In order to measure the performance of the power grid globally and locally, the concept Efficiency and its application is also introduced. The mechanism and the model of cascading failure in power grid are successively discussed. Finally, some possible directions of future research are proposed at the end of the paper.