An Investigation into Cascading Failure in Large-Scale Electric Grids: A Load-Redistribution Approach

In this study, we propose a load-redistribution-based practical cascading failure model that analyses the dynamic behaviour of a power system upon the occurrence of node failures. The proposed model pays particular attention to the load model and its role in modelling the cascade. Both naturally-induced and deliberate man-made node failures are incorporated in the proposed model for three typical network topologies—scale-free, small-world and Erdös–Rényi random networks—to demonstrate the validity of the proposed model and the extent of cascading failure. The load-based cascading failure model is validated using the data obtained from a real-world power grid, and the robustness and vulnerability when subjected to node failures are analysed and presented.