Reliability Value of Fast State Estimation on Power Systems

Monitoring the state of a power system under stress is key to achieving reliable operation. State estimation and timely measurements become more important when applying and designing corrective control actions (manual and automatic) to arrest or mitigate cascading blackouts. The execution time of each process, including state estimation, should be as short as possible to allow for timely action. In this paper, we provide a methodology for estimating one of the components of value of faster and more frequent state estimation: the reliability value of state estimation to assist corrective control actions for arresting or mitigating cascading blackouts. We use an algorithm for estimating the time between successive line trips in a cascading failure. The algorithm combines power flow calculations with characteristics of the protection system to estimate the time between successive equipment trips. Using this algorithm, we illustrate the value of fast state estimation by calculating the time remaining for automatic or manual corrective actions after state estimation is finalized.