Chapter 1
Introduction and Overview
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Power system instabilities are unacceptable to society. Indeed, recent major blackouts in North America and in Europe have vividly demonstrated that power interruptions, grid congestions, or blackouts significantly impact the economy and society. In August 1996, disturbances cascaded through the West Coast transmission system, causing widespread blackouts that cost an estimated $2 billion and left 12 million customers without electricity for up to 8 h. In June 1998, transmission system constraints disrupted the wholesale power market in the Midwest, causing price rises from an average of $30 per megawatt hour to peaks as high as $10,000 per megawatt hour. Similar price spikes also occurred in the summers of 1999 and 2000. In 2003, the Northeast blackout left 50 million customers without electricity and the financial loss was estimated at $6 billion. According to a research firm, the annual cost of power outages and fluctuations worldwide was estimated to be between $119 and $188 billion yearly. Power outages and interruptions clearly have significant economic consequences for society.
The ever-increasing loading of transmission networks coupled with a steady increase in load demands has pushed the operating conditions of many worldwide power systems ever closer to their stability limits. The combination of limited investment in new transmission and generation facilities, new regulatory requirements for transmission open access, ...
