Exploring power system emergency control

Maintaining the integrity of an interconnected grid is the paramount requirement if power system collapses are to be avoided. Current automatic measures for dealing with power system emergencies respond to the symptoms and not the causes and dismember the grid rather than keeping it whole. There are fundamental deficiencies in existing approaches, such as emergency control from the apex of a hierarchy, the inability to provide for multiple contingencies and improper understanding of the process of breakdown. A direction for emergency control is charted by addressing these hidden issues