Considerations in the Automatic Development of Electric Grid Restoration Plans

TL;DR

This paper presents an automated framework for developing electric grid restoration plans that quickly generate reliable sequences to restore power after blackouts, ensuring system stability and compliance with operational limits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel automated process for creating adaptable power system restoration plans based on system data and resource status, demonstrated on a synthetic 200-bus case.

Findings

Restoration sequence from blackstart units to critical loads successfully generated.

The process maintains system stability by respecting frequency, voltage, and branch loading limits.

Application on a synthetic case validates the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Abstract

Power system restoration is a highly complex task that must be performed in a timely manner following a blackout. It is crucial to have the capability of developing a reliable restoration plan that can be adjusted quickly to different system conditions. This paper introduces a framework of an automated process that creates a restoration plan for a given power system. The required input includes the original system data under normal operating conditions and the status of the resources in the system that can be used for restoration. With a set of criteria to select as an option, the presented process can produce a restoration sequence in terms of which generator, load, branches, and breakers to close until a stopping criterion is met. The algorithm of the restoration process is described, and its application to a synthetic 200-bus case provides a restoration sequence from blackstart generating units to critical loads first and then to the rest of the system without violating any limits for frequency, voltage and branch loading.