Modeling and Analysis of Cascading Failures in Large-Scale Power Grids

This work presents results on the dynamic modeling and analysis of cascading failures in large-scale electric grids. In this study, cascading outages are simulated using a 2000-bus synthetic grid with detailed modeling of generator dynamics, protection systems and other system elements. A selection of N -2 contingencies are applied to cause an initial system disturbance. The sequence of events following the initial disturbance are recorded and discussed. Analytical studies are performed on two most severe scenarios. Current literature describing the evolution of cascades using power system simulations with dynamic models are limited in quantity. This study aims to contribute to the current literature and to show that simulations utilizing full dynamic modeling of power system elements have the ability to demonstrate cascading failures.