Power system survivability increase with intelligent support tools

Since deregulation of the energy market an increased number of stakeholders with different responsibilities and increased cross-national power transfers along with high shares of dispersed and renewable generation are currently forcing European transmission and distribution systems to its limits. Increased automation creates a higher dependency on telecommunication infrastructure and enlarges the complexity of dependency structures and as a consequence the danger of cascading effects, e.g. causing area-wide blackouts. New tools or an intelligent combination of existing approaches are required to increase the survivability of critical infrastructures. This paper describes some outcomes of a European research project called IRRIIS that was dedicated to risk reduction of critical infrastructures. One promising application is the assessment and decision support tool CRIPS - realized as an expert system; it is based on network simulations realized with PSStradeSINCAL, an established tool to support the analysis and planning of electrical power, gas, water or heat networks. CRIPS assesses the current situation in power supply networks analyzing the simulation results of the physical network behavior and makes corresponding decisions; a possible common use-case is outlined and benefits of this application are shown.