On WAMS-based Emergency Outage Detection using Optimization

In this paper, an optimization-based algorithm for the detection of multi-branch outages is presented. The main advantage is its ability to detect an unknown number of tripped branches in meshed power systems solely based on node voltage angle information obtained with phasor measurement units (PMUs). The proposed algorithm uses a hybrid optimization approach combining particle swarm optimization with Newton’s method. The algorithm is tested on linearized load flow data as well as on a dynamic simulation of the Nordic-32-Bus system. In a sensitivity analysis the influence of the optimizer’s main parameters and the robustness against linearization errors and missing data is shown. The high ratio of correct detection results across the whole range of evaluated parameters identifies the proposed algorithm as a useful supportive tool for future decentralized SCADA applications.