Assessment of hypothesized substation cyberattack using linearized power flow approach

Abstract

Islanding has been an emerging issue of a power grid separation which can lead to instability. This paper analyzes islanding issues based on the hypothesized cyberattack through multiple IP-based substations that may trigger consequential tripping by the existing protection infrastructure. We first analyze a power grid using AC power flow to associate contingencies with compromised substations that may lead to instability. The DC power flow is then employed to verify the nonconvergent power flow solutions on the islanding cases where this would immediately determine the instability level of a given grid. A weighting factor is introduced to assess the combinations of potential worst cases that are derived from the initial results of AC power flow analysis. The proposed quantification metric is verified using IEEE test systems.