Cascade Failures from Distributed Generation in Power Grids

TL;DR

This paper investigates how increasing renewable-based distributed generation with erratic power inputs affects power grid robustness, revealing a sharp transition to failure in test networks as renewable penetration grows.

Contribution

It introduces a realistic stochastic model for renewable sources in power grids and analyzes their impact on grid stability and failure modes.

Findings

Higher renewable penetration leads to a sharp increase in grid failures.

Erratic sources significantly reduce grid robustness compared to traditional demand increases.

The transition to failure is abrupt as renewable integration surpasses a critical threshold.

Abstract

Power grids are nowadays experiencing a transformation due to the introduction of Distributed Generation based on Renewable Sources. At difference with classical Distributed Generation, where local power sources mitigate anomalous user consumption peaks, Renewable Sources introduce in the grid intrinsically erratic power inputs. By introducing a simple schematic (but realistic) model for power grids with stochastic distributed generation, we study the effects of erratic sources on the robustness of several IEEE power grid test networks with up to 2000 buses. We find that increasing the penetration of erratic sources causes the grid to fail with a sharp transition. We compare such results with the case of failures caused by the natural increasing power demand.