SBIR Phase I: Power System Restoration - The Graceful Degradation Phase

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project investigates controlled islanding of power system during major disturbances. Most power system faults occur on high- and extra high-voltage transmission lines due to their vulnerability arising from their exposed lengths. The majority of these faults, such as those caused by lightning, are temporary and of short duration. These faults are rapidly cleared leaving the power system in an unfaulted condition. However, during the short fault duration, the electrical output of generators' decrease, while the mechanical input to the generators remain practically constant. The effect of the torque imbalance is for the groups of generators to accelerate at different rates and to "swing" with respect to one another. If not quickly corrected they may lose synchronism, forming imbalance load-generation islands, and consequently resulting in blackouts. The proposed online real-time methodology has the potential of avoiding the formation of imbalance load-generation islands thus reducing the possibility, extent and duration of blackouts. The impact of prolonged blackouts on the public, on the economy, and on the power system itself makes rapid effective controlled islanding very important. An effective system separation reduces the impact of an outage on customers and on the economy of affected area while reducing the possibility of damage to equipment.