Study of Failure Spreading Mechanism in the Small-world Power Grid

With the development of complex network theory,especially the discovery of small-world characteristics in the power grid,increasingly great concern is shown about the relationship between the complex structural characteristic and the cascading failures of power grid.On the basis of the complex network theory,the heterogeneity of the small-world power grid is studied and several failure modes and indices are presented in this paper.The inherent mechanism of cascading failures in the small-world power grid are analyzed and effective measures to improve the capability of the power grid to endure large-scale blackouts are put forward.Investigations on grid topological characteristics and failure simulations show that the structural vulnerability of the small-world power grid is the root cause of failures to cascade in the grid,while the external factor can hardly fundamentally remedy such a situation.More rational resource configuration and load distribution will be of greater significance to the prevention of large-scale cascading failures and an increase in the reliability of electricity transmission.