Modeling the Impact of Communication Loss on the Power Grid under Emergency Control

TL;DR

This paper develops a new model to analyze how communication loss affects power grid stability during emergencies, highlighting that failures are not always point-wise and depend on multiple parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a novel modeling approach that captures the complex impact of communication loss on power grid performance, improving upon previous point-wise failure assumptions.

Findings

Communication loss does not necessarily cause node failure.

Impact depends on network size, structure, and operating mode.

Model aids in designing resilient power-communication dependencies.

Abstract

We study the interaction between the power grid and the communication network used for its control. We design a centralized emergency control scheme under both full and partial communication support, to improve the performance of the power grid. We use our emergency control scheme to model the impact of communication loss on the grid. We show that unlike previous models used in the literature, the loss of communication does not necessarily lead to the failure of the correspondent power nodes; i.e. the "point-wise" failure model is not appropriate. In addition, we show that the impact of communication loss is a function of several parameters such as the size and structure of the power and communication failure, as well as the operating mode of power nodes disconnected from the communication network. Our model can be used to design the dependency between the power grid and the communication network used for its control, so as to maximize the benefit in terms of intelligent control, while minimizing the risks due to loss of communication.