Vulnerability of Transmission Grids with Variable Generation and Consumption: A Complex Network Systems Perspective

This paper looks into the vulnerabilities of the electric power grid in the face of intermittent power generation from renewable energy sources and uncertain load demand profile within a complex network framework of analysis. We extend the purely-topological complex network modeling framework by inclusion of relevant physical aspects of the system. We focus on the self-limitations that the electric power grid imposes on its operations due to its structural configuration and to the limits on flow-carrying capacities of lines. To this aim, we assess how the transmission system copes with requests to increase power generation due to enhanced power consumption at a load bus. In the application to the 380 kV Italian power transmission network, we introduce vulnerability measures that allow ranking the elements of the electric power network. Moreover, we find that topological centrality measures are not adequate in predicting the criticalities of the electric power network.