Interdependence between Power Grids and Communication Networks: A Resilience Perspective

Power network resilience is increasingly dependent on communication networks. Besides traditional generation, power networks need to accommodate increasingly high penetration levels of dispersed micro generation, mostly based on renewable sources, and increasing and challenging demand, such as electric vehicles. At the same time the deployment of enabling technologies throughout the power grid makes available new demand resources and storage capacity. These resources have to be jointly managed for efficient and resilient operation. Therefore a resilient communication network is mandatory for the smart control of these different resources. Communication networks in turn also rely on the power networks in spite of some power backup that they may have. This interdependence is especially critical in bad weather conditions where both networks can be severely affected, even more when they strongly depend on each other. This work describes ongoing research related with the interdependence between both networks regarding resilience, cascading failure effects, applicable models and simulation techniques.