Critical System Cascading Collapse Assessment for Determining the Sensitive Transmission Lines and Severity of Total Loading Conditions

This paper presents a computationally accurate technique used to determine the estimated average probability of a system cascading collapse considering the effect of hidden failure on a protection system. This includes an accurate calculation of the probability of hidden failure as it will give significant effect on the results of the estimated average probability of system cascading collapse. The estimated average probability of a system cascading collapse is then used to determine the severe loading condition contributing to a higher risk of a system cascading collapse. This information is important because it will assist the utility to determine the maximum level of increase in the system loading condition before the occurrence of critical power system cascading collapse. Furthermore, the initial tripping of sensitive transmission line contributing to a critical system cascading collapse can also be determined by using the proposed method. Based on the results obtained from this study, it was found that selecting the accurate probability of hidden failure is very important as it will affect the estimated average probability of a system cascading collapse. Comparative study has been done with other techniques to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method used in the determination of sensitive transmission lines.