Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Large-scale power system controlled islanding based on Backward

Elimination Method and Primary Maximum Expansion Areas
considering static voltage stability
Farkhondeh Jabari a,, Heresh Seyedi a, Sajad Naja Ravadanegh b
a
b

Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Smart Distribution Grid Research Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 September 2014
Received in revised form 26 November 2014
Accepted 1 December 2014

Keywords:
Backward Elimination Method (BEM)
Binary Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm
(BICA)
Boundary network
Primary Maximum Expansion Area (PMEA)
Slow coherency
Static voltage stability

a b s t r a c t
This paper proposes a novel approach for separation of bulk power system into several stable subsystems
following a severe disturbance. An interconnected power system may become unstable due to wide area
contingency when it is operated close to the stability boundaries as a result of increased demand, power
industry restructuring and competition in the deregulated electricity markets. Meanwhile, large-scale
power system controlled splitting is the last resort to prevent catastrophic cascading outages and wide
area blackout. The proposed method of this paper reduces the huge initial search space of the islanding
strategy to only interface boundary network by clustering the coherent generators and simplifying the
network graph. Then, Backward Elimination Method (BEM) based on Primary Maximum Expansion Areas
(PMEAs) has been proposed to generate all proper islanding scenarios in the simplied graph. The NewtonRaphson power ow method and QV modal analysis have been used to evaluate the steady state
stability of the islands in each generated scenario. Binary Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm (BICA)
has then been applied to minimize total load-generation mismatch considering no-isolated bus, voltage
permitted range and static voltage stability constraints. Comprehensive discussions have been provided
using the simulations on NPCC 68-bus test system. The results demonstrate the speed, effectiveness and
capability of the proposed strategy to generate fast feasible splitting solutions considering static and
dynamic stability.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

2. Where to split

Power industry restructuring and competition in the deregulated electricity markets in order to provide increased consumption causes operation of large power systems close to their
stability margins. Although an interconnected power system may
be stable against small disturbances, wide area contingencies
may cause the system to lose stability and lead to the catastrophic
wide area blackouts. Hence, splitting is the nal action to prevent
cascading failures. Power system islanding procedures will have to
determine two important issues [1]:

Many wide area blackouts such as 2003 Italy [2], 2003 Sweden
Denmark [3], 2003 United States and Canada [4], 2005 JavaBali
[5], 2009 Brazil and Paraguay [6], July 2012 India blackout [7]
may have been prevented and load-generation mismatch may
have been reduced by fast, accurate, feasible controlled splitting
strategies [811]. Controlled intentional islanding separates a bulk
power system into a number of stable islands by tripping selected
transmission lines according to the minimum load-generation mismatch [12]. Hence, once separation is detected, the most important
step is to nd the optimal splitting points. In the literature, several
approaches have been proposed to split a large power system into
several stable sections following a wide area contingency. These
procedures can be divided into two general categories. The rst
one is based on the coherent generators clustering and the second
one is based on the network graph theory.

1. When to split
Islanding starts exactly after separating detection. In recent
years, many different techniques have been proposed to detect
the interconnected power system splitting.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 41 33393732.
E-mail addresses: f.jabbari91@ms.tabrizu.ac.ir (F. Jabari), hseyedi@tabrizu.ac.ir
(H. Seyedi), s.naja@azaruniv.edu (S. Naja Ravadanegh).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2014.12.008
0142-0615/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

Islanding based on coherent generators clustering

In the literature, there are mainly two clustering methodology:
The rst one identies coherent machines through a time-domain
simulation according to the dynamic behavior of each generator
due to specic disturbance. Hence, the machines with similar rotor
angle or speed curves are assumed to be coherent. Slow coherency
theory as a two-time-scale method is a driven force behind the rst
procedure. It is based on the power system oscillations which can
be classied into two modes; local or intra-area modes in the 1
3 Hz range and inter-area modes less than 1 Hz [13]. The machines
with the same inter-area mode swing together and they are called
coherent in the selected inter-area modes [14]. In [15], the coherent groups are determined through the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and Stochastic Subspace Identication (SSI) method.
In this method, the generator rotor speed prepared from the Wide
Area Measurement System (WAMS) is only used to cluster the
coherent machines. In [16], a novel approach based on the correlation characteristics of the generator rotor angle oscillation is presented to identify the coherent machines. In proposed scheme,
the correlation coefcients of generators are assessed by online
measurement of rotor angle oscillations. In [1720], a slow coherency method has been applied to cluster the coherent generators of
an interconnected power network. The mathematical background
of slow coherency theory and selective modal analysis can be
found in [21].
In [12], the slow coherency theory is used to obtain the desired
generator groups. Angle Modulated Particle Swarm Optimization
(AMPSO) is then used to nd a number of candidate scenarios that
provide optimal static and dynamic characteristics. In [2123], the
coherent machines have been clustered by the slow coherency theory. A spanning tree based Breadth First Search (BFS) algorithm is
then used to nd all proper islanding scenarios. This method
reduces the large initial search space of the integrated power systems islanding to the boundary branches. The proposed islanding
strategy determines the best separating points according to the
minimum load shedding. In [25,26], the Krylov projection method
has been used to cluster the coherent machines. A spanning tree
based Depth First Search (DFS) algorithm has then been used to
nd all candidate solutions in reduced search space. In [27], the
slow coherency based grouping is used to provide the primary
dynamic criteria. An automatic islanding program is then applied
to nd the optimal cutsets to form the isolated stable islands considering minimum load-generation mismatch. All generators clustering techniques reduce the large search space of the islanding
from the entire system to the boundary interface network signicantly. The slow coherency based islanding has two important
advantages [2124,27].
1. Slow coherency based clustering is independent of the size,
type and location of the disturbance. Hence, it is possible to
design a defensive splitting strategy before a wide area
disturbance.
2. Slow coherency based clustering is independent of the generator model details. So, the classical model can be used.
Islanding based on network graph theory
An interconnected power system can be interpreted as a simple
two-dimensional graph. The inputs are nodes and branches. In real
power system, the number of nodes and branches increase considerably. Hence, the bulk power system splitting will have a large initial
search space. In some literature, the scenario reduction techniques
based on graph simplication have been proposed. In [1], Source
Node Expansion (SNE) algorithm based on slow coherency has been
proposed to split a simplied power network. The SNE initiates

369

expansion from a source node to the connect loads until desired

power balance be met. When all sources were expanded, optimal
cutsets can be determined using the adjacency matrix. In [28], an
OBDD-based three-phase method has been proposed to nd proper
islanding solutions of interconnected power systems. A time-based
layered structure has then been introduced to demonstrate the
capability of the proposed strategy. The feasibility of this method
has been studied by means of power system transient simulations
in [29]. In [30], a novel approach based on the minimal cutsets with
minimum net ow has been proposed to split the large power system into several stable sections following a severe disturbance. In
[31], a three-phase multilevel partitioning scheme has been used
to split the entire network graph. The Greedy growing and KL algorithm have then been applied to nd the optimal scenario. In [32],
the slow coherency algorithm has been applied to cluster coherent
generators. Then, a multi-level graph partitioning has been proposed to split the reduced network graph into desired islands with
minimum generation-load mismatch. In [33], an Ant Search Mechanism (ASM) based on linear programming and DC power ow has
been proposed to identify proper splitting points considering power
balance and line overloading constraints. In [34], a Mixed Integer
Linear Programming (MILP) algorithm has been proposed to determine optimal islanding scenario. The steady-state DC power ow
equations and operating limits such as line losses, transmission
capacity constraint and generation limits have been considered to
minimize total load shedding. Then, an AC optimal load shedding
problem has been solved in islanded system to provide a scenario
that satises AC power ow.
To achieve a fast practical islanding solution which satises all
the steady state and dynamic constraints within the islands is an
arduous challenge. A fast scenario generator algorithm is necessary
due to the inherent real-time application of islanding strategies in
which a feasible solution is needed to guarantee the stable operation of islands. In the literature, there are remarkable efforts on
defensive separating of power systems. However, there are still
some unsolved problems to satisfy the static and dynamic voltage
stabilities of islands and reduce the risk of their partial blackouts.
This paper develops a real-time strategy for fast, proper, accurate
and feasible islanding decision making which can guarantee the
voltage security margin, steady state and dynamic stabilities of
islands and prevent their partial blackout. Another unique feature
of proposed scenario generator algorithm is its capability of analyzing the steady state stability of each island independent of the
other islands, since the PMEA of each island has been considered
in primary line and bus data matrices. Therefore, if there are N
coherent independent clusters, it will be possible to break one
complex optimization process into N computationally efcient
problems and reduce the average calculation time, signicantly.
In the current paper, the large initial search space of the separating strategy has been reduced to only smaller interface network
by aggregating the coherent machines and simplifying the network
graph. Backward Elimination Method (BEM) based on Primary
Maximum Expansion Areas (PMEAs) is then proposed to generate
all proper islanding scenarios in the simplied power network.
The NewtonRaphson power ow and QV modal analysis have
been used to assess the steady state stability of the islands in each
generated scenario. Binary Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm
(BICA) is applied to minimize total load-generation mismatch considering integrity, voltage permitted range and static voltage stability constraints.
The rest of the current paper is organized as follows: Section
Problem formulation presents the problem formulation. The proposed splitting strategy has been provided in Section Proposed
controlled islanding strategy. Section Simulation results and discussions contains the simulation results and discussion. Finally,
conclusion appears in Section Conclusion.

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

Problem formulation
Objective function
The amount of power mismatch affects the network frequency.
If active generation increases, the frequency will be increased else
if active load increases, the frequency will be decreased. It will be
necessary to maintain the islands frequency in an acceptable limit
by minimizing the active power imbalance between load and generation. Hence, the following objective function is dened to minimize total load-generation mismatch.

Objective Function Min

nX
island


P G

!


i

P
i
L
island
island

i1

where P Gisland i is the total active generation of ith island, P Lisland i

the total active load of ith island and nisland is the number of islands.

PGisland i

NG
i
X

PGi m

m1
NL

PLisland i

Xi
PLi n

n1

In relations (2) and (3), P Gi m and P Li n are the active generation of

the mth machine and the active consumption of the nth load in ith
island, respectively.
Constraints
The criteria for nding proper stable islanding scenarios can be
summarized as follows [12,33].
No-isolated bus (integrity)
The islanding process must not eliminate any bus from primary
integrated power system. All buses inside each island must be connected to each other to form some integrated areas.
Voltage permitted range
The voltage magnitude must be limited in an acceptable range
as following relation:

V min
< V i < V max
i
i

where Vi is the voltage magnitude of the ith bus. V min

and V max
are
i
i
the minimum and maximum voltage magnitudes at bus i,
respectively.
Static Voltage Stability (SVS)
The stability analysis in islanding studies is a complex issue and
there are many approaches to solve this problem. These procedures can be divided into three categories [35]:
1. Static voltage stability analysis.
2. Small disturbance analysis.
3. Dynamic voltage stability analysis.

Fig. 2. Graph simplication by degree-two transfer bus.

uses the linearized differential equations and dynamic voltage

stability approaches try to nd why and how the voltage collapse
has occurred. Because of nonlinear nature of differential equations,
it is not possible to determine the exact distance to voltage collapse in dynamic methods. So, the static procedures are used to
assess the voltage security margin.
The static voltage stability characteristics of a power system can
be identied by computing the QV sensitivity from following relations. In NewtonRaphson technique, the linearized steady-state
power ow equations can be written as (5) [3536]:

"

J Pd

J PV

J Qd

J QV

#

Dd
DV

DP
DQ

where DP is the incremental change in bus real power injection, DQ

the incremental change in bus reactive power injection, Dd the
incremental change in bus voltage angle, DV the incremental
change in bus voltage magnitude, JPd the sensitivity of incremental
change in bus real power injection to the incremental change in bus
voltage angle, JPV the sensitivity of incremental change in bus real
power injection to the incremental change in bus voltage magnitude, JQd the sensitivity of incremental change in bus reactive power
injection to the incremental change in bus voltage angle, and JQV is
the sensitivity of incremental change in bus reactive power injection to the incremental change in bus voltage magnitude.
Also, Jacobian matrix is dened as:

"
J

J Pd

J PV

J Qd

J QV

#
6

In an interconnected power system, the static voltage stability

is affected by active and reactive powers. In order to reduce the
computational burden, active power can be assumed to be constant at each operating point. Hence, the relation between incremental change in bus reactive power injection and incremental
change in bus voltage magnitude will be represented as follows:

DQ J R DV

J R J QV  J Qd J 1
Pd J PV

where JR is called the reduced Jacobian matrix and relates the bus
voltage magnitude to the bus reactive power injection as follows:

DV J1
R DQ

In (8), the ith diagonal element of the JR matrix represents the

QV sensitivity at bus i. Due to the nonlinear relation between
bus voltage magnitude and bus reactive power injection, the

Static voltage stability analysis is based on the solution of the

conventional power ow equations. The small disturbance stability

Fig. 1. Isolated coherent clusters.

Fig. 3. Graph simplication by parallel transmission lines.

F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

magnitude of the sensitivity cannot evaluate the voltage security

margin and stability degree. Hence, the QV modal analysis is used
to determine the voltage stability indices. Therefore:

J R nKg

1
J 1
R nK g

11

Substituting in Eq. (9), the relation between incremental change

in bus voltage magnitude and incremental change in bus reactive
power injection can be rewritten as (12) and (13):

DV nK1 gDQ

X ni g

ki

DQ

13

In (13), ki is the ith eigenvalue, ni is the ith column of the right

eigenvector matrix and gi is the ith row of the left eigenvector
matrix. Since:

gn

v g DV

16

q gDQ

17

1

Eq. (18) can be written as:

v i qi =ki

18

If ki > 0, the voltage and the reactive power variation of the ith
PQ bus are along the same direction and the system is stable. If
ki < 0, the voltage and the reactive power variation of the ith PQ
bus are along opposite directions and the system is unstable. If
ki 0, the ith modal voltage collapses.

12

And

The vectors of the modal voltage variation and the modal reactive power variation are dened as (16) and (17), respectively:

10

In (10), n and g are the right and left eigenvector matrices of the
JR, respectively. The K matrix consists of the eigenvalues of the
reduced Jacobian matrix. From Eq. (10):

DV

371

14

Coherency criterion
All machines in each island should remain in synchronism to
increase the dynamic stability of the created islands. Two noncoherent generators must not be connected to each other. As
shown in Fig. 1, two independent coherent groups should be isolated by tripping ij transmission line.
Proposed controlled islanding strategy
Coherent generators grouping

Therefore:

gDV K1 gDQ

15

In this paper, the slow coherency based aggregating has been

applied on NPCC 68-bus test system to guarantee the dynamic

Fig. 4. Concepts of Primary Maximum Expansion Areas in New England 39-bus test system.

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

stability of the created islands following a severe disturbance.

Coherency analysis as a scenario reduction technique can reduce
the computational burden of the stability studies and limit the
huge initial search space of the intentional separating to only smaller interface network.

the branches or buses that are not boundary are called non-boundary or deterministic branches or buses, respectively. In a large
power network, the branches and buses are classied into two categories as fallows:

Proposed network graph simplication

Deterministic or non-boundary areas

The branches which connect coherent generators should be
closed. In other words, the islanding strategy is not allowed to
open these branches. If multiple trajectories exist to connect two
coherent machines, a path will be selected that none of its
branches can be considered as a boundary line. If the generators
Gi and Gj are not coherent, the ij branch must be opened. Also,
the faulted transmission lines must be tripped. These branches
have non-boundary or deterministic states in power system islanding studies. The buses connected to non-boundary lines are called
deterministic buses.

In an interconnected power system with thousands of buses

and branches, the islanding search space grows exponentially.
However, the graph simplication without losing the useful information can reduce the calculation time, signicantly. In graph theory, the degree of a bus is the number of the branches connected to
it. The bus type can be classied into three categories; load bus,
generation bus and transfer bus. The bus with load and no generator is called load bus. The bus with generator and no load is called
generation bus and the bus with no load and generator is called
transfer bus. As shown in Fig. 2, C is a degree two transfer bus. If
AC transmission line is closed, x(i) will be equal to 1, else, it will
be zero. Similarly, if C-B transmission line is closed, x(j) will be
equal to 1, else, it will be zero. The number of islanding scenarios
can be reduced by considering x(i) = x(j).
As shown in Fig. 3, the binary states of the parallel transmission
lines between A and B can be considered to be identical. In other
words, all parallel branches between A and B are either connected
(1) or disconnected (0).
Determination of interface boundary network
Following the aggregation of the coherent machines and the
simplication of the network graph, it is important to determine
the types of the branches and buses to obtain the interface boundary network and limit the search space from entire system to the
boundaries. The interface network between each area with other
adjacent areas is called boundary or probabilistic network which
consists of boundary or probabilistic branches and buses. Hence,

Probabilistic or boundary area

All of the branches which are not deterministic are called probabilistic branches. The buses that are connected to the probabilistic
lines are called boundary buses.
Principles of proposed Backward Elimination Method
In this section, a novel probabilistic search strategy denoted as
Backward Elimination Method based on Primary Maximum Expansion Areas is proposed for generating all proper separating scenarios according to coherent groups and simplied network graph.
The NewtonRaphson power ow method and QV modal analysis
have been used to evaluate the steady-state stability of the islands
in each generated scenario. Binary Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm is then applied to minimize the load-generation active
power mismatch considering integrity; voltage permitted range
and static voltage stability as optimization problem constraints.

Fig. 5. PMEAs of three islands and boundary branches in New England 39-bus test system.

F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

373

Fig. 6. The owchart of the proposed optimal defensive islanding strategy.

In order to apply the BEM based on PMEAs as a defensive islanding

strategy, the following steps should be carried out sequentially.
Determination of the Primary Maximum Expansion Areas
The Primary Maximum Expansion Area of the island A consists
of deterministic buses of island A, deterministic branches of island
A and boundary network considering isolated islands constraint.
As shown in Fig. 4, there are three coherent groups named A, B
and C and colored by red, blue and green, respectively. The boundary or probabilistic interface network has been shown with purple.
The Primary Maximum Expansion Area of the island A has been
determined as a gray area by considering the islands
independence.
Formation of the probabilistic line and bus data matrices considering
PMEAs
The primary line data matrices of the islands will have probabilistic nature due to the boundary transmission lines. After numbering all buses and determining the slack bus in each island (The
slack bus must not belong to the set of the boundary buses)

considering PMEAs of the islands, the primary probabilistic line

data matrix will be formed for each island as follows. For the kth
boundary branch connecting ith and jth buses of island A, we can
use:

Zi; j 1  xkM Z 0 i; j

xk

if the kth boundary branch has been opened

1 if the kth boundary branch has been closed

Z 0 i; j Ri; j jXi; j

19

20

21

Z(i, j) is the impedance of the transmission line i to j in primary

probabilistic line data matrix of island A. M is a sufciently large
constant. Z0(i, j), R(i, j) and X(i, j) are the impedance, resistance
and reactance of ij transmission line in per unit, respectively.
According to (20), x(k) shows the state of the kth probabilistic
branch. In a generated scenario, the primary probabilistic line data
matrix can be updated as follows. If x(k) = 0, the kth boundary

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

Table 1
All modes, frequency and damping of NPCC 68-bus system.
No

Modes

Freq (Hz)

Damping

Inter-area modes

No

Modes

Freq (Hz)

Damping

Inter-area modes

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

0.0001
0.8203
0.3591  2.3868i
0.3591 + 2.3868i
0.3801  3.0739i
0.3801 + 3.0739i
0.3617  3.9378i
0.3617 + 3.9378i
0.4302  4.9073i
0.4302 + 4.9073i
0.2500  5.9666i
0.2500 + 5.9666i
0.2550  6.4568i
0.2550 + 6.4568i
0.2906  7.0406i
0.2906 + 7.0406i

0
0
0.3799
0.3799
0.4892
0.4892
0.6267
0.6267
0.7810
0.7810
0.9496
0.9496
1.0276
1.0276
1.1205
1.1205

1
1
0.1488
0.1488
0.1227
0.1227
0.0915
0.0915
0.0873
0.0873
0.0419
0.0419
0.0395
0.0395
0.0412
0.0412

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

0.2500  7.1908i
0.2500 + 7.1908i
0.2500  7.6827i
0.2500 + 7.6827i
0.2517  7.8977i
0.2517 + 7.8977i
0.2500  8.4151i
0.2500 + 8.4151i
0.2500  9.2183i
0.2500 + 9.2183i
0.2500  9.4569i
0.2500 + 9.4569i
0.2520  10.9986i
0.2520 + 10.9986i
0.2500  14.3598i
0.2500 + 14.3598i

1.1444
1.1444
1.2227
1.2227
1.2570
1.2570
1.3393
1.3393
1.4671
1.4671
1.5051
1.5051
1.7505
1.7505
2.2854
2.2854

0.0347
0.0347
0.0325
0.0325
0.0319
0.0319
0.0297
0.0297
0.0271
0.0271
0.0264
0.0264
0.0229
0.0229
0.0174
0.0174

No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

boundary bus) is removed from island A to island B, the ith bus

of island A will be eliminated from the probabilistic bus data
matrix of this island through a Bus-Trajectory matrix. In other
words, for each generated scenario, the probabilistic bus data
matrix which is formed based on the PMEA of the island A will
be updated across the Bus-Trajectory matrix of this island. The
Bus-Trajectory matrix of the island A can be formed as follows. If
the ith bus of the island A is a deterministic or non-boundary
bus, the ith row of the Bus-Trajectory matrix of island A will be
equal to 1. In other words, BT A i 1. If the ith bus of island A is
a probabilistic or boundary bus, the ith row of the Bus-Trajectory
matrix of island A can be calculated via the following steps.

Table 2
Inter-area modes, frequency and damping of NPCC 68-bus system.
No

Modes

Freq (Hz)

Damping

1
2
3
4
5
6

0.8203
0.3591  2.3868i
0.3801  3.0739i
0.3617  3.9378i
0.4302  4.9073i
0.2500  5.9666i

0
0.3799
0.4892
0.6267
0.7810
0.9496

1.0000
0.1488
0.1227
0.0915
0.0873
0.0419

branch is opened and Z(i, j) M. If x(k) = 1 the kth boundary branch

is closed and Z(i, j) = Z0(i, j).
Once all buses of each island have been numbered and the slack
buses of the islands have been determined (The slack bus must not
belong to the set of the boundary buses), the probabilistic bus data
matrix will be formed for each island according to PMEA of island.
In order to generate proper splitting solutions, it is necessary to
update the probabilistic bus data matrices of the islands in each
generated scenario. Hence, if the ith bus of the island A (that is a

G14 rotor angle

90
120

1
0.8

G15 rotor angle

90

0.2

G16 rotor angle

90
60

120

0.1

150

30

0.4

30

330

210

240

300
270

150

210

330

240

300
270

90
120

0.3

G1,G2,G3,G4,G5,G6,G7,G8,G9 rotor angles

90
120

60

0.2
30

0.4

30

0.1

0.1

0.05

180

210

330

240

60

0.15

150

30

150

0.25
0.2

0.2

0 180

180

G10,G11,G12,G13 rotor angles

60

0.6

0.05

0.2

1
0.8

0.15

0.6

150

120

60

1. All probabilistic trajectories which connect the ith probabilistic

bus of island A to the deterministic network of this island
should be determined.
2. A trajectory which connects the ith bus of island A to the deterministic network of this island through boundary branches can
be considered as the multiplication of the binary states of these
probabilistic branches.

300

180

210

330

240

270

300
270

Fig. 7. Compass plot of rotor angle terms of 3rd inter-area mode eigenvector.

Fig. 8. Voltage prole under given disturbances.

180

330

210

240

300
270

F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

375

Fig. 9. Simplied graph and boundary network of NPCC 68-bus test system.

Table 3
Best scenario for islanding of NPCC 68-bus test system.
x(1)
1
x(12)
1

x(2)
1
x(13)
1

x(3)
0
x(14)
1

x(4)
1
x(15)
0

x(5)
1
x(16)
0

x(6)
1
x(17)
1

x(7)
1
x(18)
1

x(8)
1
x(19)
1

x(9)
0
x(20)
1

x(10)
0
x(21)
1

x(11)
1

3. The sum of the obtained expressions for all of the probabilistic

trajectories in previous step (which connect the ith probabilistic
bus of island A to the deterministic network of this island) is
calculated as the ith row of the Bus-Trajectory matrix of island
A.
In Fig. 5, there are three coherent groups named A, B and C. The
3rd and 7th buses of island C are deterministic and probabilistic
buses, respectively. Therefore, the 3rd and 7th rows of BusTrajectory matrix of island C will be equal to 1 and
T1

T2

T3

z}|{ z}|{ z}|{

x4  x6 x4  x5  x7  x8 x4  x5  x7  x9,
respectively. The primary probabilistic bus data matrix of island A
can be updated as fallows. If BTA(i) = 0, the ith bus of island A will
be removed from this island. If BTA(i) 0, the ith bus of island A
will belong to this island.
BEM, PMEAs and BICA based optimization
The BEM, PMEAs and BICA based optimization program is
applied to minimize total load-generation mismatch. The steady
state stability can be evaluated in each island using Newton

Raphson power ow program and QV modal analysis for each

generated scenario. The integrity, voltage permitted range and
steady-state voltage stability constraints have been considered in
the optimization process.
The coherent generators should be clustered based on the slow
coherency theory. The proposed graph simplication is then
performed. The deterministic areas and the interface boundary
network have then been determined according to the coherent
machines, deterministic and probabilistic buses and branches.
The PMEAs of the islands can be determined to form the
primary probabilistic line and bus data matrices. For each
generated scenario, the primary probabilistic line and bus data
matrices are updated through the Bus-Trajectory matrices. Then,
NewtonRaphson power ow and QV modal analysis have been
performed based on the updated line and bus data matrices in each
island. All of the controlled islanding constraints are then checked.
If one of them is not met, the new scenario will be generated;
otherwise the load-generation power mismatch will be calculated
to nd the best solution vector. The owchart of the proposed optimal intentional islanding strategy has been shown in Fig. 6.

Simulation results and discussions

In order to demonstrate the speed, effectiveness and capability
of the proposed strategy, the NPCC 68-bus test system is used. One
line diagram and initial operating point of this system has been
given in [37].
The NewtonRaphson power ow has been performed under
normal operating condition. Total active load and generation are

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

equal to 184.0873 and 182.3390 per unit, respectively. The simulation results consist of three sections.
Slow coherency based clustering
Under normal operating condition, the coherent generators can
be identied based on the slow coherency scheme. In Table 1, all
modes, frequency and damping of the NPCC 68-bus system have
been shown. According to Table 2, there are ve inter-area modes
in this system.
A compass plot of the rotor angle terms of the eigenvectors in
the 3rd inter-area mode is shown in Fig. 7. According to rotor angle
terms, ve coherent groups {G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6, G7, G8, G9},
{G10, G11, G12, G13}, {G14}, {G15}, {G16}, have been formed.
Graph simplication and determination of interface boundary network
A solid three-phase fault occurs on one of transmission lines
connecting bus 930 close to bus 9 at t = 1.0 s and is cleared after

0.3 s by removing the transmission lines 930. Another contingency is occurred on the branch 127 at t = 1.3 s and this branch
will be opened. The voltage prole following given contingencies
and the simplied network graph with boundary network have
been shown in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively.

BEM, PMEA and BICA based optimization

The search space will have 221 = 2, 097, 152 possible solutions.
The best solution vector and load-generation mismatch in ve
areas have been reported in Tables 3 and 4, respectively. According
to Table 4, the total generation (201.207 per unit) is larger than the
total load (182.689 per unit), thus load shedding is not necessary.
The total minimum power mismatch is 18.5188 per unit which lost
in transmission systems. The optimal islanded NPCC 68-bus power
system has been shown in Fig. 10.
Voltage proles of ve islands have been shown in Figs. 11 and
12. The static voltage stability indices of islands have been shown

Table 4
Load, generation and power mismatch of islands in per unit.
Active power in per unit

Area 1

Area 2

Area 3

Area 4

Area 5

Total

Total active generation

Total active load
Total active imbalance

17.4697
13.0683
4.4014

11.5000
11.5000
0.000

33.1888
32.2170
0.9718

81.6431
74.1237
7.5194

57.4062
51.7800
5.6262

201.2078
182.689
18.5188

Fig. 10. Optimal islanded NPCC 68-bus test system.

F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

Fig. 11. Voltage prole in island 1, 2 and 3.

Fig. 12. Voltage prole in island 4 and 5.

Fig. 13. Voltage stability indices in island 1 and 3.

Fig. 14. Voltage stability indices in island 4 and 5.

377

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

in Figs. 13 and 14. Based on the optimal scenario, the 5th, 6th and 7th
buses of area 1 which are similar to the 22nd, 21st and 20th buses of
area 4 and 39th, 38th and 42nd buses of area 5, belong to the island 4.
The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th buses of the area 3 which are similar to the
26th, 25th, 28th and 27th buses of the area 4 belong to the island 3.
The 17th, 18th and 19th buses of the area 4 which are similar
to the 37th, 36th and 35th buses of the area 5 belong to the
island 5. According to Fig. 9, the PQ buses in island 1, 3, 4, 5
are {3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, {3, 4, 5, 6}, {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28} and {3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37,
38, 39, 40, 41, 42}, respectively. All stability indices are positive and
the static voltage stability has been satised in each island.
As mentioned in the introduction section, the optimum separating points can be found by solving four optimization problems in
islands 1, 3, 4 and 5, sequentially or simultaneously. In this study,
the sequential method has been applied as follows.
The PMEA of the island 1 has been shown in Fig. 15. There are
ve probabilistic branches and 32 scenarios in optimization process of island 1. Therefore, the number of required initial countries,
imperialists and decades of the BICA and calculation time will be
decreased. In the obtained best scenario shown in Fig. 15, the voltage permitted range and SVS criteria have not been satised for the
5th, 6th and 7th buses of the island 1. Hence, they are transferred

Fig. 17. Reduced interface network of island 4.

Fig. 15. PMEA of island 1.

Fig. 16. PMEA of island 3.

from island 1 to area 4. If in optimization process of area 4, the

voltage constraints are not satised for 20th, 21st and 22nd buses,
they will again be transferred from island 4 to area 5.
The PMEA and the optimum separating point of the area 3 with
16 solutions have been shown in Fig. 16. It is not necessary to trip
any boundary branch for optimal isolation of Section Proposed
controlled islanding strategy. According to the best solutions of
the islands 1 and 3, the reduced interface network of the subsystem 4 will have 256 possible solutions. As shown in Fig. 17, it will
optimally become an isolated area by tripping the 217 transmission lines based on the obtained optimal solution. Finally, the 5th
island will have 32 possible scenarios. Based on the obtained best
scenario shown in Fig. 18, it is not necessary to trip any probabilistic branch for defensive separation of Section Conclusion. All constraints in the optimization process of the island 5 have been met.
Hence, the optimization problems have been implemented in a
very short time as a result of the fast convergence of each process
within rst iteration.
As shown in Figs. 1518, total search space will have 336 possible scenarios in ve optimization problems. In order to prove
the practicability of the proposed fast strategy, the calculation time
has been compared with OBDD, ASM and ST-BFS methods in
Table 5.
According to above table, the proposed algorithm is computationally efcient and fast.
Similar to the previous scheme, the four optimization programs
can be implemented considering Primary Maximum Expansion
Areas of islands instead of their reduced interface boundary networks in simultaneous method. There are 32, 16, 214 = 16,384
and 210 = 1024 scenarios in four splitting search spaces,
respectively.

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

Fig. 18. Reduced interface network of island 5.

Table 5
Calculation times of fast strategies.
Calculation time

PMEAs, BEM and BICA based optimization

(on a Lenovo with 2.10 GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM)

OBDD (on a PC Pentium IV-1.4G

CPU and 256M DDRAM)

ASM (PC with 2.26 GHz

CPU, 2 GB RAM, 3 MB
Cache)

ST-BFS

For nding each

scenario
For nding the best
solution

<0.1 s

Not reported

About 1 s

<0.4 s

Not reported

Not
reported

One optimization
process with 2,097,152
scenarios
Four optimization
problems with 336
scenarios

18.358 s

For 252 possible

solutions

For 48,120 possible

solutions

0.4 s (each process

always converges
within rst iteration)

16.365 s (by 1
CPU) 7.765 s
(by 6 CPUs)

41.303 s. (by 1
CPU) 23.403 s
(by 3 CPUs)

Conclusion
Power industry restructuring and competition in the deregulated electricity markets in order to provide increased consumption causes operation of large power systems close to their
stability margins. If there is no emergency corrective control to
resynchronize all generators and prevent fault spreading, occurrence of large disturbance may cause the system to lose stability
and even lead to the wide area blackout. Hence, defensive
Separation of bulk power system as a comprehensive real-time
decision making is the last defense line against passive collapse
of system.
This paper introduces a novel strategy for separation of interconnected power systems following severe disturbances. In this
paper, the slow coherency based aggregation and graph simplication as two scenario reduction techniques have been used to
reduce the large initial search space of the islanding strategy from
entire network to only smaller interface boundary network. Then,

Backward Elimination Method (BEM) based on Primary Maximum

Expansion Areas (PMEAs) has been proposed to generate all fast,
proper and feasible islanding scenarios in the simplied system
by transferring some of the boundary buses in one island to
another island such that total mismatch is minimized. The NewtonRaphson power ow method and QV modal analysis have
been used to evaluate the steady-state stability of the islands in
each generated scenario. The Binary Imperialistic Competitive
Algorithm (BICA) has then been applied to minimize total loadgeneration mismatch considering integrity, voltage permitted
range and static voltage stability constraints. The proposed scenario generator algorithm generates each possible islanding solution in an average calculation time less than 0.1 s and evaluates
the static voltage stability of the PQ buses based on QV modal
analysis in each generated solution. The results demonstrate the
speed, effectiveness and capability of the proposed scheme to generate fast practical splitting solutions considering static and
dynamic stability.

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F. Jabari et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 67 (2015) 368380

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