University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The creation of synthetic power grids: preliminary considerations

Birchfield, Adam B

Content Files
BIRCHFIELD-THESIS-2016.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/95328

Description

Title
The creation of synthetic power grids: preliminary considerations
Author(s)
Birchfield, Adam B
Issue Date
2016-11-21
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Overbye, Thomas J.
Department of Study
Electrical & Computer Eng
Discipline
Electrical & Computer Engr
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2017-03-01T15:48:51Z
Keyword(s)
  • Synthetic networks
  • Power systems
  • Geomagnetic disturbance
  • Power system topology
  • Delaunay triangulation
Abstract
This thesis presents preliminary considerations and an initial methodology for the systematic creation of synthetic power system test cases. The synthesized grids are built to match statistical characteristics found in actual power grids, but they do not correspond to any real grid and are thus free from confidentiality requirements. First, substations are geographically placed on a selected territory, synthesized from public information about the underlying population and generation plants. A clustering technique is employed, which ensures the synthetic substations meet realistic proportions of load and generation, among other constraints. Next, a network of transmission lines is added. This thesis describes several structural statistics to be used in characterizing real power system networks, including connectivity, Delaunay triangulation overlap, dc power flow analysis, and line intersection rate. The thesis presents a methodology to generate synthetic line topologies with realistic parameters which satisfy these criteria. Then, the test cases can be augmented with additional complexities to build large, realistic cases. An application to geomagnetic disturbance analysis is discussed as an example. The thesis illustrates the method with two example test cases, one with 150 buses and the other with 2000 buses. The methodology for creating each is shown, and the characteristics of these cases are validated against the observations from real cases.
Graduation Semester
2016-12
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95328
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2016 Adam Birchfield

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