Modeling and analysis of discrete event behaviors in power system using Petri nets

Apart from the continuous time phenomena various discrete events occur in an electric power system. Previously, the size and operation of the power systems were considerably small and centralized compared to the large, decentralized power systems of the present day. Each discrete event occurring in the power system was manually acknowledged and necessary changes were made in the system operation. But with the recent deregulation, the sizes of the power system have increased rapidly and it is becoming very difficult if not impossible to use the traditional methods. Specialized tools are necessary for modeling and analysis of the discrete events occurring in the power system. A number of formal languages, including Petri nets and finite state machines can be used for this purpose. This paper describes how Petri nets can be used for modeling and analysis of the discrete events occurring in a power system.