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Published in IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution
Received on 29th January 2013
Revised on 21st May 2013
Accepted on 30th May 2013
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0065

ISSN 1751-8687

Two-stage power network reconfiguration strategy

considering node importance and restored generation
capacity
Can Zhang1, Zhenzhi Lin1, Fushuan Wen1,2, Gerard Ledwich2, Yusheng Xue3
1

School of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Peoples Republic of China
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane,
Queensland 4001, Australia
3
State Grid Electric Power Research Institute, Nanjing 210003, Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China
E-mail: fushuan.wen@gmail.com
2

Abstract: Network reconguration after complete blackout of a power system is an essential step for power system restoration.
A new node importance evaluation method is presented based on the concept of regret, and maximisation of the average
importance of a path is employed as the objective of nding the optimal restoration path. Then, a two-stage method is
presented to optimise the network reconguration strategy. Specically, the restoration sequence of generating units is rst
optimised so as to maximise the restored generation capacity, then the optimal restoration path is selected to restore the
generating nodes concerned and the issues of selecting a serial or parallel restoration mode and the reconnecting failure of a
transmission line are next considered. Both the restoration path selection and skeleton-network determination are implemented
together in the proposed method, which overcomes the shortcoming of separate decision-making in the existing methods.
Finally, the New England 10-unit 39-bus power system and the Guangzhou power system in South China are employed to
demonstrate the basic features of the proposed method.

Introduction

With continuous socio-economic development, reliable

power supply is becoming more and more demanding. By
strengthening the structure of a power system and
optimising its management, the risks of power system
failures can be reduced. However, the growing complexity
of power systems and the inevitable uncertainties in power
system operation increase the risks of power system
failures. The 30 July 2012 blackout in India and the 14
August 2003 blackout in the USA and Canada remind us
that it is important to enhance secure and stable operation
of large-scale actual power systems. Thus, it is still of
signicant importance to study power system restoration
after a blackout [1, 2]. The main issues of network
reconguration representing the second phase in the power
system restoration process are to restore generating units
and to establish a stable network, and then to prepare for
comprehensive load pick-up [3, 4]. In [5], an articial
neural network (ANN)-based technique for power system
restoration is proposed, and some workable restoration
strategies can be used as samples to train the ANN.
A rule-based system is presented to generate and implement
a dynamic restoration plan in [6]. The mathematical
programming and intelligent optimisation algorithms can be
embedded into the decision-making support system for
power system restoration, which has shown potential in
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2014, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 91103
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0065

solving the multi-objective optimisation problems. In [7],

the optimal target system for power system restoration is
formulated as a mathematical programming problem and
solved by the decompositioncoordination method, and
then a restoration method is developed by combination of
the expert system and the mathematical programming
approach. With the development of the complex network
theory, its applications in power systems have been paid
more and more attention [8]. In [9], betweenness, closeness,
eigenvector and sub-graph indices which are employed to
measure the importance of buses in the complex network
are introduced, and then a comprehensive index for ranking
the importance of network buses is proposed. In [10],
network cohesion after node contraction is proposed to
evaluate the importance of the node. In [11], it is proposed
that the weighted power network can reect the node
importance and the operation of actual power systems in a
better manner. In [12], the network cohesion degree of
weighted power network is presented to evaluate the
importance of various nodes, but the relationship of power
supply among the nodes is not considered in power system
restoration procedure.
The regret theory was proposed in [13, 14], which is used
to make decisions in the environment with risks in the
nancial sector. The key concept of regret is to compare the
current situation with another one which could be obtained
by choosing another strategy, and if the decision-maker
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nds that he/she could get better results by choosing another
strategy, he/she would be regretful. Different results could be
obtained by employing different restoration strategies in the
network reconguration procedure, hence, the regret
concept can be employed to evaluate node importance and
optimise the restoration path in the network reconguration
procedure in this work.
Given this background, the topological characteristics of
the power system and the relationship of power supply
among the nodes are rst addressed, and a new method for
evaluating the node importance degree and optimising the
restoration paths based on the concept of regret is
presented. A two-stage method is proposed to optimise the
network reconguration strategy. The start-up power,
starting time, ramping rate and critical maximum interval of
generating units are considered in optimising the restoration
sequence of the generating units for the purpose of
maximising the restored generation capacity. The serial or
parallel restoration mode can be selected based on the
restoration state of the power system. Then, a method for
evaluating the average importance degree of each
restoration path is proposed to optimise the restoration paths
of the generating units concerned. Furthermore, the possible
failure of reconnecting a transmission line to the power
network is also considered. Finally, the New England
10-unit 39-bus power system and the Guangzhou actual
power system in South China are employed to demonstrate
the essential features of the proposed method.

Fig. 1 Four-node weighted network

where T() is a logical truthfalse operation. If the value in the

bracket of T() is not equal to zero, then the result of the
operation is 1; otherwise, it is 0.
The path judgement matrix is dened as
J = J1 J2 J3 JL

where Jd is the path matrix, in which the distance between the

relative two nodes is equal to d; d is the number of lines on the
path connecting two nodes. L is the maximal distance of any
two nodes; and is the logical OR operator. Whether there is
a path connecting two nodes can be judged from the path
judgement matrix. If Jij = 1, this means that there will be at
least one path connecting node i with node j; otherwise,
there will be no path. Taking the network shown in Fig. 1
as an example, there are

2 A method to evaluate node importance

based on the concept of regret
In the traditional shortest path optimisation method, the
weights of all the lines are dened as one. Although this
method can show the network topology, the relationship in
electricity of the nodes cannot be reasonably reected.
The charging capacitance of a line can lead to overvoltage
risk when reconnecting it to the power network. Thus, the
charging capacitance can be employed as the weight of the
line. Larger the line weight is, larger the risk will be, and
then less possible that the line will be selected as the
restoration path.
Before developing a new node importance evaluation
method, the weighted network connection matrix [15] will
rst be briey introduced. If there is a line lij connecting
node i and node j, and the weight of the line is wij, then
Mij = Mji = wij in the connection matrix; otherwise, Mij = Mji
= 0.
A four-node weighted network is shown in Fig. 1, in which
wij is the line weight. The connection matrix M is

0
w21
M =
w31
0

w12
0
w32
0

w13
w23
0
w43

0
0

w34
0

(1)

where w12 = w21, w13 = w31, w23 = w32 and w34 = w43.
The logical connection matrix is dened as


0
T w12 T w13




0
T w23
T w21
J = 

T w
T w32
31
0
0
0
T w43

0

T w34
0

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(2)

(3)

  


J12
= T w12 T w13 T w23

(4)

 


= T w13 T w34
J14
 


T w12 T w23 T w34

(5)

where is the logical AND operator; (i, j) is dened as the

node pair containing nodes i and j. Equation (4) means that
there are two paths connecting the node pair (1, 2): l12 and
l13l32. Equation (5) means that there are also two paths
connecting the node pair (1, 4): l13l34 and l12l23l34. The
results of the two operations are both equal to 1, and this
means that there is at least one path connecting the relative
two nodes.

2.1

Regret value of losing topological connectivity

In a power system, if electricity is not available in a node, then

it can be deemed that the node is removed from the power
network. If node 3 is removed from the network in Fig. 1,
the lines directly connecting node 3 are also removed. In
the connection matrix M, all the elements related to node 3
should be set to zero. Assume that the modied path

judgement matrix is J *, then the element J12

=
T (w12 ) T (0) T (0) = 1, and this means that there exist
paths connecting the node pair (1, 2) after node 3 is

removed; J14
= T (0) T (0) T (w12 ) T (0) T (0) = 0,
and this means that there exists no path connecting the node
pair (1,4) after node 3 is removed. For the node pair (i, j),

J(i,j)
= Jij = J
ji .
For the network topological characteristics in the network
reconguration procedure, two regret assessment indices are
dened here to evaluate the objective node m: the regret
value of losing topological connectivity Pm, and the regret
value of increased restoration cost Cm. The regret value of
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Table 1

Regret value of losing topological connectivity for

node 3
Evaluated
node
3

Strategy
1

Strategy
2

J(1,
2) = 1

J(1,
4) = 1

J(2,
4) = 1

J(1,
2) = 1

J(1,
4) = 0

J(2,
4) = 0

P3 =

J(i,j) J(i,j)

(i,j)[V 3

losing topological connectivity is dened as:

Pm =

J(i,j)
J(i,j)

H min = M 1w QM 2w QM 3w Q QM Lw

(6)

(i,j)[V m

where V m is the set of node pairs directly connecting node m;

J(i,j)
is the path judgement value of node pair (i, j) in the

original network; and J(i,j)

is the path judgement value of
node pair (i, j) after node m is removed. In the restoration
procedure of a power system, if there is a path connecting
two nodes (or a node pair), the power can be delivered to
each other, hence, this kind of node pair is dened as
deliverable one; otherwise, the cranking power cannot be
delivered, that is, one node cannot be restored by the other
one, hence this kind of node pair is dened as nondeliverable one. In the phase of network reconguration,
sometimes non-generating nodes should be restored with
priority, and the node is also represented by m, which is to
supply power from node m to its connecting nodes. If node
m is not restored, the whole reconguration process may be
affected, because some nodes will only be restored by node
m. In this circumstance, the number of non-deliverable node
pairs is dened as the regret value of losing topological
connectivity. If the regret value is large, much damage will
be caused if not restoring node m. Then, the decisionmakers will be more regretful for not employing this
strategy. As a result, node m should more likely be restored,
and this means that the importance of node m is high.
To evaluate the importance of node 3 in the network of
Fig. 1, the strategies of restoring node 3 and not restoring
node 3 are denoted as strategies 1 and 2, respectively. Thus,
the regret values of losing topological connectivity for node
3 are shown in Table 1.
2.2

min
m, and H(i,j)
is the minimum restoration cost of the node
min
pair (i, j) after applying the same strategy. H(i,j)
is the
minimum restoration cost of the node pair (i, j) in case that
the restoration of the evaluated node m is allowed. If the
restoration of node m is not allowed, fewer lines can be
selected to optimise the restoration path. In this
circumstance, the shortest path obtained will not be shorter
than the path optimised with the strategy of restoring node
min
min
m, and this means that H(i,j)
H(i,j)
. In order to determine
the minimum restoration cost of the deliverable node pair,
the minimum restoration cost matrix is dened as

where M dw is the restoration cost matrix in which the distance

between the relative two nodes is d; L is the longest distance
between any two nodes, and the number of lines in the path
connecting two nodes is dened as the distance between the
two nodes concerned. It should be noted that the total
weight of the lines of the shortest path may not be the
minimum one. Selecting the line with higher weight may
cause more cost and would take more risk, so the path with
the minimum total weight can be regarded as the path with
the minimum restoration cost. is the operator for
obtaining the minimum value from the elements on the
same location of all the matrixes. In fact, only when there
exist at least two nodes and one path connecting these two
nodes after the evaluated node m is removed would the
regret value of increased restoration cost be calculated.
If there is no path between any two nodes after node m is
removed, this node will be extremely important, thus the
regret value of increased restoration cost should be set as a
very large amount (such as 100 000), and the index H min
dened in (8) will not be calculated.
Take the network in Fig. 1 as an example, the minimum
restoration costs of the node pairs (1, 2) and (1, 4) are,
respectively, as follows


min
H(1,2)
= min w12 , w13 + w23 = min(0.4, 0.3) = 0.3
and


min
H(1,4)
= min w13 + w34 , w12 + w23 + w34 = min(0.4, 0.9)
= 0.4

Regret value of increased restoration cost

If the evaluated node m is not restored, the nodes connected to

node m cannot be restored through the lines connecting node
m, and then these nodes may be supplied power through other
paths. Thus, this strategy may involve more cost and more
risk, because some larger weighted lines or longer paths
will be selected to deliver power to the nodes. The total
weight of the lines in the restoration path is regarded as the
restoration cost, and then the path with minimum cost is
selected to restore the node concerned. The increased
restoration cost by employing the strategy of not restoring
the evaluated node m is dened as the regret value of
increased restoration cost, and can be represented by
Cm =

min
min
H(i,j)
H(i,j)

In evaluating the importance degree of node 3, only the node

pair (1, 2) is the deliverable
one after node 3 is removed, and

min
H(1,2)
= min w12 = 0.4. As a result, the regret value of
increased restoration cost of node 3 is shown in Table 2.
It can be seen from Table 2 that the regret value C3 of
increased restoration cost of node 3 is equal to 0.1. This
means that the restoration cost will increase if node 3 is not
restored. The increased restoration cost is an index for
evaluating the importance degree of node 3. The larger the
increased cost is, the more important the evaluated node
will be.
Table 2


(7)

(i,j)[V m

where V m is the set of the deliverable node pairs after

employing the strategy of not restoring the evaluated node
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2014, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 91103
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(8)

Increased regret value of the restoration cost of

node 3
Evaluated
node

Strategy 1

min
H(1,2)
= 0.3

Strategy 2
min
H(1,2)
= 0.4

C3 =


 min
min
H(i,j) H(i,j)

(i,j)[V 3

0.1

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2.3 Comprehensive evaluation of the importance
degree of a node
By combining the regret value of losing topological
connectivity with that of increased restoration cost, a
comprehensive index for evaluating the importance degree
of a node can be obtained as

The original network is shown in Fig. 2a, and the network

after node contraction is shown in Fig. 2b. It can be seen
from Fig. 2b that the contraction process of node 10 is to
contract node 10 and the nodes connecting with it,
including nodes 4, 5, 6 and 9, as the new node 9.
The node importance degree after node contraction can be
dened as

bm = Pm + u Cm

a = 1/Nnode lave

(9)

where u is the ratio coefcient for adjusting the relative

importance of Pm and Cm. The comprehensive evaluating
index of the evaluated node m can evaluate the performance
of supplying power from any node connecting with node m to
the other nodes connecting with node m, in comparing the
strategy that restoring the evaluated node m with that of not
restoring it. Larger the regret value, more the incurred cost. In
an extreme case, if there exists a node that all the unrestored
nodes become isolated when it is removed, this node will be
extremely important. Thus, its regret value of increased
restoration cost as well as that of losing topological
connectivity should be given a very large amount, and then
the importance degree of the node would also be very large.
Compared with the situation where the node can be
restored, the situation where the node cannot be restored
will lead to more costs in the restoration. Thus, the ratio
coefcient u should be set as a small number. Furthermore,
another evaluation method can also be employed to
evaluate the importance degree of the node, by sorting all
the nodes by Pm (or Cm if Pm is the same) in the
descending order, and then determining the order of the
importance degree of the nodes.
2.4 Comparisons between the proposed method
and the existing method
Traditionally, the concept of the node degree is employed to
scale the importance of the node in studying the topological
characteristics of a network. However, some key nodes in
an actual network may not have larger node degrees than
others [10]. Thus, network cohesion after node contraction
is proposed to evaluate the importance degree of the nodes
in [10]. The node contraction process is shown in Fig. 2.

(10)

where Nnode is the total number of nodes in the network; lave is

the average distance among the nodes, and dened as




lave =
dmin,ij / Nnode Nnode 1 /2
(11)
_
i,j[V

where dmin,ij is the shortest distance between nodes i and j; V

is the set of nodes in the network.
The weighted power network is shown in Fig. 2a, together
with the weights of the lines. Bigger the weight , larger the
cost and risk will be, if the line is selected to restore the
concerned node. In Fig. 2a, the topological structure of
node 10 and the nodes connected with it are same with
those of node 11. If the weight of the line is not considered,
the importance degrees of nodes 10 and 11 would be same.
If the power is supplied from nodes 9 to 4, then the total
weight of path 9 11 3 4 would be 0.5, and that of
path 9 10 4 would be 0.9. Thus, the path 9 11
3 4 should be selected to deliver power. Furthermore, if
the cranking power is supplied from node 9 to region II,
node 11 would be restored rst, and then power would be
supplied from regions I to II. Thus, it can be concluded that
node 11 is more important than node 10.
The new networks after nodes 10 and 11 in Fig. 2a are
contracted as shown in Fig. 2b and c, respectively. The
importance degrees of nodes 11 and 10 can be calculated,
and are 0.2941 and 0.3271, respectively. It can be seen that
node 10 is more important than node 11, and the result is
opposite to the conclusion obtained by using the traditional
method. Since the lines directly connected to the node are
also contracted when the node is contracted, electrical
connection of the nodes cannot be reasonably reected in
the contracted network.

Fig. 2 Node contraction process of a weighted power network

a The original network
b The new network after node 10 is contracted
c The new network after node 11 is contracted
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Table 3 Regret values of nodes 10 and 11

10
11

Node pairs
unable to
supply
power to
each other

Pm

(4, 5) (4, 6)
(5, 6) (5, 9)
(6, 9)
(1, 2) (1, 3)
(1, 9) (2, 3)
(2, 9)

Node pairs able to supply power to

each other

Cm

(i, j)

min
H(i,j)

min
H(i,j)

min
min
H(i,j)
H(i,j)

(4, 9)

0.5

0.5

(3, 9)

1.1

0.3

0.8

0.8

3.1 Optimisation model and strategy for

determining the start-up sequence of generating
units

Thus, the regret values of nodes 10 and 11 can be

calculated by using the proposed method, and the results
are shown in Table 3.
It can be seen from Table 3 that the Pms of nodes 10 and
11 are equal, whereas the Cm of node 11 is larger than that of
node 10, and this means that node 11 is more important than
node 10. In summary, it can be concluded that the proposed
method can overcome the shortcomings of the method
presented in [10] in evaluating the importance degree of the
node, and lead to a more reasonable conclusion.
2.5

work, a two-stage method is proposed to optimise the

network reconguration strategy so as to reduce the scale of
the optimisation problem as well as the difculty degree.
In the rst stage, the start-up sequence of generating units is
determined by maximising the restored generation capacity.
In the second stage, the path with maximum average
importance degree is selected to restore the generating units
concerned. The optimal network reconguration strategy
can then be obtained.

Optimisation of the skeleton network

Actually, the node importance evaluation method based on

the concept of regret can be employed to optimise the
skeleton network as well. The ideal objective of optimising
the skeleton network is to restore all generating units and
the most important nodes with the least number of
transmission lines. In this work, the skeleton network is
optimally determined by maximising the average
importance of the skeleton network formulated as

max ss =
bm /Nns
(12)
m[Vs

where s is the average importance degree of the skeleton

network represented by s; Vs and Nns are the set and
number of the unrestored nodes in the skeleton network
represented by s, respectively.
The average regret value of losing topological connectivity
of the skeleton network is dened as

P ss =
Pm /Nns
(13)

3.1.1 Optimisation model for determining the

start-up sequence of generating units: In the
network reconguration phase, the start-up sequence of
generating units is determined by maximising the restored
generation capacity. The restored generation capacity Ptotal
is equal to the total sum of the rated capacities minus the
start-up power required of all the generating units
concerned, is formulated as
Ptotal =

Nsb

Pnsb

n=1

Nsnb

Pksnb

k=1

Nsnb

Pksnbj

(15)

k=1

where Nsb and Nsnb are the numbers of the black-start

generating units and non-black-start generating units
restored in the network reconguration phase, respectively;
Pnsb and Pksnb are the restored outputs of the black-start
generating unit n and the non-black-start generating unit k,
respectively; Pksnbj is the required start-up power of the
non-black-start generating unit k. The complex start-up
process of a thermal generating unit is shown in Fig. 3 [16,
17]. It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the generating unit is
restarted at T1 when it is supplied with the cranking power;
the unit starts to output power at T1 + Tgp, and then
increases the output gradually with the ramping rate until
the maximum output Pmax at T2.
Thus, the problem of optimising the restoration sequence of
the generating units can be described as
max Ptotal =

Nsb

n=1

Pnsb +

Nsnb

k=1

Pksnb

Nsnb

Pksnbj

(16)

k=1

m[Vs

The average regret value of increased restoration cost of the

skeleton network is dened as

Cm /Nns
(14)
C ss =

The following constraints should be respected in the network

reconguration phase:

m[Vs

Thus, the average regret value of losing topological

connectivity as represented by Ps can be employed to
determine the best scheme from different schemes of
skeleton networks. In case that there are more than one
scheme of skeleton networks having the same value of Ps,
the scheme with the larger Cs will be selected.

3 Two-stage method for network

reconfiguration
The main objective of network reconguration is to restore
the generating units and establish a stable network. In this
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2014, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 91103
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Fig. 3 Start-up characteristic of a thermal generating unit

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(1) The generation output constraints
min
max
PGn
PGn PGn
,

n [ CG

(17)

max
Qmin
Gn QGn QGn ,

n [ CG

(18)

where G is the set of the generators; PGn and QGn are the active
max
and reactive power outputs of generator n, respectively; PGn
,
min
max
min
PGn , QGn and QGn are the maximum active power,
minimum active power, maximum reactive power and
minimum reactive power of generator n, respectively.
(2) The constraints of voltage amplitudes and phase angles at
nodes
Vimin Vi Vimax , i [ CN




uib u jb  ub , b [ CL

(19)
(20)

where N is the set of all nodes; Vi is the voltage amplitude of

node i; L is the set of all lines; ib and jb are the voltage
angles at the two ends of line b.
(3) The constraints of transmission line capacities
 
P  Pmax , b [ C
lb
L
lb

(21)

max
where L is the set of all lines; Plb and Plb
are the active
power and the transmission capacity of line b, respectively.

(4) The constraint of the system frequency

f min f f max

(22)

where f is the system frequency; f max and f min are the upper
and lower limits of the frequency, respectively.
(5) The constraint of the critical maximum interval of a
generator
n
0 T1n Tmax
,

n [ CG

(23)

where T1n is the time when generator n obtains the cranking

n
power; Tmax
is the critical maximum interval of generator n.
If the generator can obtain the cranking power within the
critical maximum interval, it will restart and supply power
to the system quickly.
There exist several ways to keep the system voltage within
the accepted range, such as deactivating switched static
capacitors, connecting shunt reactors, adjusting transformer
taps to appropriate positions and picking up loads with
lagging power factors [18]. Restoring loads gradually with a
small increment can maintain the system frequency within
the accepted limit.
3.1.2 Optimisation strategy of the restoration
sequence of generating units: Quickly restoring the
power system is the main objective of the network
reconguration phase. The characteristics of various
generators can be quite different, thus optimising the
restoration sequence of the generating units is of great

lG =

m[CG

importance for maximising the restored generation capacity

[17]. Thus, the following restoration strategy of the
generating units can be employed:
(1) The black-start generating units should restart rst to
provide the cranking power to the power system;
(2) The generating units with the critical maximum intervals
should have the priority to be restarted, and the units with
small critical maximum intervals should be rst restarted.
(3) The generating units with larger ramping rates should be
restarted with priority under the strategy (2).
(4) If the generating units with the critical maximum
intervals cannot be restarted because of the insufcient
cranking power, the other type of units can be
considered to be restarted.
(5) If the cranking power is sufcient, the parallel restoration
strategy can be applied; otherwise, the series restoration
strategy should be employed to restore the generating
units.
It should be noted that the restoration path for a unit in the
rst part of the unit restoration sequence may contain a node
with a unit in the later part. Indeed, the later unit will not be
restarted rst in this case, and the node with the later unit is
only regarded as the one to deliver the cranking power to
other nodes, and the units are restarted following the
determined restoration sequence. In addition, the cranking
power may not be large enough to restart the unit in the
restoration path, and hence the cranking power is just
employed to restart the unit at the end of the restoration
path. Furthermore, if the unit in the later part is restarted
rst, it may have negative impact on the restoration of other
units. As a result, the restored generation capacity would
decrease because the restoration sequence of the units is not
properly organised. Moreover, generating units are usually
located at the terminal nodes which could not be selected
into the restoration path of other units. In summary, the
restoration sequence of the units is rst dened, and the
restoration paths next determined based on the restoration
sequence of the generation units. In addition, the restoration
of the path should not delay the restoration of generating
units. If no path could be found without delaying the
restoration of generating units, the restoration sequence of
the remained unrestored generating units will be optimised
again to maximise the restored generation capacity. Then,
the restoration path will be determined based on the new
restoration sequence of generating units.
3.2 Optimisation model and strategy of the
restoration paths
3.2.1 Optimisation model of the restoration paths:
After the restoration sequence of the generating units is
determined, the next step is to optimise the restoration
paths. In this work, the path with maximum average
importance degree is selected to direct the optimisation of
the path restoration. The average importance degree of the
restoration path is dened as (see (24))
where and N are the set and number of the unrestored
nodes in path , respectively. In the restoration process, the

min
min

J(i,j) J(i,j)
H(i,j)
H(i,j)
+u
/NG
(i,j)[V m

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(24)

(i,j)[V m

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The average regret value of losing topological connectivity
of the path is dened as
PG =

m[CG


(i,j)[V m

J(i,j)
J(i,j)
/NG

(26)

The average regret value of increased restoration cost of the

path is dened as
CG =

m[CG

 min
min

H(i,j) H(i,j)
/NG

(27)

(i,j)[V m

The evaluating method presented before can also be

employed to evaluate the importance degree of the path.
In this method, all the paths are sorted by P (or C if P is
the same) in the descending order, and then the order of the
importance of the paths can be determined. Finally, the path
with he maximum average importance degree is selected to
be restored. If some lines cannot be charged successfully,
the candidate restoration paths would be optimised based on
the current network and the recalculated regret values.
It should be noted that the restoration path may have impact
on the restoration of the generating units, because the required
time may be long to energise a path with many transmission
lines, and this may delay the restoration of the concerned
generating units. Hence, the candidate restoration paths
should be among the paths which would not delay the
restoration of the concerned generating units. If no path can
be found without delaying the restoration of the generating
units, it would be delayed until the cranking power is
delivered to the generating units. However, the negative
impacts of energising the line can be avoided to some
extent by employing certain strategies. For example, some
lines in the restoration path of a generating unit in the later
part of the start-up sequence may be energised
simultaneously when restoring the path of the generating
unit in the anterior part.The restoration time of each line
can be obtained by using the method proposed in [19]. An
optimistic time A, a most likely time M and a pessimistic
time B of restoring each line can be determined by system
operators based on their experience, and then the expected

Fig. 4 New England 10-unit 39-bus power system

important nodes should be restored as many as possible, and

the operating time and the risk caused by reconnecting the
lines with the power system should also be considered. The
ideal restoration objective is to restore the most important
nodes with the least operations of the lines. Charging a
longer path may restore more nodes, however it would
require more operations of the lines, and lead to more risk.
As a result, the path with maximum average importance
degree is employed to optimise the restoration path.
The objective function for optimising the restoration path is
formulated as (see (25))

3.2.2 Optimisation strategy of the restoration paths:

The restoration paths to be selected are those connecting the
restored region with the generating units unrestored. The
path with maximum average importance degree is selected
to supply power to the generating unit concerned after the
average importance degree of the candidate paths is
calculated.

Table 4 Parameters of the generating units

Generating
unit
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

Active power
capacity, MW

Ramping rate,
MW/h

Start-up power
required, MW

Start-up time
required, min

Critical maximum
interval, min

350
1145.55
750
750
660
750
660
640
930
1100

72
175
102
96
90
96
90
78
120
140

9
32
20

16
22
18
16
28
30

10
65
30

10
30
20
25
45
55

25
95
60

15
60
55
55
70
80

max lG =

m[CG

(i,j)[V m

J(i,j)
J(i,j)
+u

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doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0065


(i,j)[V m

min
min
H(i,j)
H(i,j)
/NG

(25)

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Table 5 Parameters of node importance degrees
Node

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

Regret value of
losing
topological
connectivity
Pm

Regret value
of increased
restoration
cost Cm

Node
degree

0
3
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
8
0
0
3
1
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
0
2

0.8921
6.3032
2.9382
2.0470
0.9220
1.0416
0
5.6930
0.6287
0.3522
0.6984
0
0.5648
1.3153
0.3025
1.2454
3.3570
0.6851
0
0
0.1023
0.2427
0.0337
0.2669
0.5051
0
0.7007
0
0

2
4
3
3
3
4
2
3
2
3
3
2
3
3
2
5
3
2
3
2
2
3
3
2
3
3
2
2
3

Table 7 Restoration sequence of the generating units

Ranking of
the
importance
degree

18
2
14
15
17
3
27
12
22
6
20
27
23
16
24
1
13
21
4
11
26
7
8
25
5
9
19
27"
9

33
34
30
32
36

Restoration
time, min

Generating
unit

Restoration
time, min

0
10
20
30
30

35
37
38
31
39

50
50
50
60
60

3 and 4 min, then the expected restoration time of line b is

t = (2 + 4 3 + 4)/6 = 3 min.

3.3 Steps of the two-stage network reconguration

optimisation
In summary, the steps of the two-stage
reconguration optimisation are as follows:

restoration time of the line can be obtained as

t = (A + 4 M + B)/6

Generating
unit

(28)

For example, if the optimistic time, the most likely time and
the pessimistic time of restoring line b are, respectively, 2,

network

(1) Calculate the regret value of losing topological

connectivity Pm, and the regret value of increased
restoration cost Cm of the nodes based on the data of
the power system;
(2) Optimise the restoration sequence of the generating units
by maximising the restored generation capacity;
(3) Divide the power network into the restored region and the
unrestored region, and nd the candidate paths
connecting the restored region with the unrestored
generating units. Then, calculate P and C, and select
the optimal path to restore the generating unit
concerned. Check the constraints and determine the
load to be restored so as to ensure the stability and
security of the power system. If some constraints are
violated, the optimal power ow program could be used
to determine the outputs of the generators and/or the
load shedding amounts. In the restoration procedure, the
limits of constraints could be relaxed in order to recover
power supply quickly, and this is one of the major

Table 6 Restoration time of each line

Starting node of
the line
2
39
3
25
4
18
5
14
6
8
7
11
8
9
39
11
13
14
15
16
17
19
21

End node of
the line

Restoration operation time of

the line/min

Starting node of
the line

End node of
the line

Restoration operation time of

the line/min

1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
8
9
10
10
13
14
15
16
16
16

3
1
3
2
2
4
2
2
2
2
4
1
3
2
3
2
2
3
2
2
3
3
3

24
18
27
22
23
24
26
27
28
29
29
12
12
6
10
19
20
22
23
25
2
29
19

16
17
17
21
22
23
25
26
26
26
28
11
13
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
30
38
20

3
4
2
4
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
3
4
2
1
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
2

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differences between the system restoration and normal
operation scenarios.
(4) Put the restored lines and nodes into the restored region.
If some lines cannot be charged successfully, go back to
step (3) based on the current network, and then nd the
new optimal path;
(5) Repeat steps (3) and (4) until all the generating units are
restored.

Case studies

4.1 Case 1: the New England 10-unit 39-bus power

system
The New England 10-unit 39-bus power system shown in
Fig. 4 is employed to demonstrate the proposed method.
The characteristics of the lines can be found in [20].
Suppose that there is only one generator in each generating
node, and the characteristics of the generators are shown in
Table 4. The charging capacitance of a line is regarded as
its weight, and the importance degree of the node is
calculated by the proposed method and shown in Table 5.
The restoration time of each line is shown in Table 6.
The black-start generator is located at node 33. Suppose
that the black-start generator restarts right after the blackout,
and provides cranking power to the power system. Thus,

the restoration sequence and the restoration time of the

generating units can be optimised and are shown in Table 7.
After the restoration sequence of the generating units is
optimised, the path with maximum average importance
degree is selected to restore the generating unit concerned.
Comparisons between the proposed method and the
traditional shortest path method are shown in Table 8.
It can be seen from Table 8 that the restoration paths
optimised by the proposed method are different from the
ones optimised by the traditional method, in which only the
charging capacitance of the path is considered.
Comparisons of the proposed restoration path selecting
method with the traditional charging capacitance
minimisation method are carried out in terms of the
generation outputs. In Fig. 5, the real line and the dashed
line, respectively, represent the generation outputs obtained
by the proposed method and by the traditional charging
capacitance minimisation method. It can be seen from
Fig. 5 that, in the early period, part of the dashed line is
above the real line, because some generating units are
delayed to be restored because of the long restoration time
of the paths. In the traditional method only the charging
capacitance in the path are considered, whereas the path
with the minimal charging capacitance may take a longer
time to deliver the cranking power to the generating units.
For example, 22 min are used to deliver the cranking power
to the generating unit at node 30 by employing the

Table 8 Comparisons between the two methods for optimising the restoration paths of generating units
Generating unit

34
30
32
36
35
37
38
31
39

Proposed method

Shortest path method

Restoration path

Restoration path

33 19 20 34
19 16 17 27 26 25 2 30
2 3 4 5 6 11 10 32
16 21 22 23 36
22 35
25 37
26 29 38
6 31
5 8 9 39

2.0000
2.5000
0.8333
1.3333
0
0
2.0000
0
0

0
2.0186
1.3332
0.1262
0
0
0
0
3.1609

33 19 20 34
19 16 17 18 3 2 30
3 4 14 13 10 32
16 24 23 36
23 22 35
2 25 37
25 26 29 38
4 5 6 31
2 1 39

Fig. 5 Generation outputs optimised by traditional and proposed methods

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traditional method, whereas only 20 min are required to
restart this unit by employing the proposed method; thus
the restoration of this unit has to be delayed if the
traditional method is applied. In the later period, the dashed
line is below the real line, because the restoration of some
generating units is delayed, and then the moments these
units start to output power are also delayed. At 130 min, the
outputs of all generating units optimised by the proposed
method reaches 812 MW, whereas that optimised by the
traditional method reaches 783 MW; this means that the
proposed method leads to a quicker restoration of
generation outputs than the traditional charging capacitance
minimisation method.
Take the restoration of node 39 as an example, there are
three candidate paths and the average importance degree is
shown in Table 9. All the P s of the three paths are 0, so
the optimal path cannot be determined only by P. Then,
the C of the paths are compared, and the path (5 8
9 39) with maximum C is selected to restore node 39.
In Table 8, the P s and Cs of the restoration paths of
node 35, 37 and 31 are all 0, because the nodes directly
connecting with the generating nodes are restored. Finally,
the destination restoration network can be obtained and is
shown in Fig. 6.
The restoration of node 32 is taken as an example to show
how to deal with the failure of transmission line charging
(restoration) in the power system restoration procedure. The
restoration path of node 32 is 2 3 4 5 6 11
10 32. Suppose that the charging (restoration) of lines
611 is failed, then the restored lines and nodes are put into
the restored region, and the restoration path is optimised
again based on the current restored network. The average
importance degree of the four candidate paths is shown in

Table 10, and it can be seen that the candidate path (4

14 13 10 32) is optimal.
The skeleton network can also be obtained by using the
proposed skeleton-network optimisation method, as shown in
Fig. 7; the skeleton network importance degree is listed in
Table 11. The importance degree of the skeleton network
obtained by the restoration path optimisation method is also
included in Table 11. It can be seen from Tables 11 that Ps
obtained with the skeleton-network optimisation method is
larger than the other one, and this means that the skeleton
network shown in Fig. 7 is better than that shown in Fig. 6.
This is because that the skeleton network shown in Fig. 7 is
Table 10 Average importance degree of the candidate
restoring paths for node 32 (after lines 611 fail to be restored)
Candidate paths
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 32
16 15 14 13 10 32
4 14 13 12 11 10 32
4 14 13 10 32

0.3333
0.5000
0.4000
0.6667

0.5389
0.6337
0.5861
0.7441

Table 9 Average importance degree of the candidate restoring

paths for node 39
Restoration path

2 1 39
6 7 8 9 39
5 8 9 39

0
0
0

0.8921
2.1072
3.1609

Fig. 7 Optimised skeleton network

Table 11 Importance degrees of the skeleton networks

obtained by two methods
Method
Skeleton-network
optimisation
method

Restoration path
optimisation
method

Fig. 6 Destination restoration network

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Lines involved

Ps

Cs

L3319, L1920, L2034,

L1916, L1617, L1727,
L2726, L2625, L252, L2
30, L23, L34, L45, L56,
L611, L1110, L1032, L16
24, L2423, L2336, L2322,
L2235, L2537, L2629,
L2938, L631, L21, L139
L3319, L1920, L2034,
L1916, L1617, L1727,
L2726, L2625, L252, L2
30, L23, L34, L45, L56,
L611, L1110, L1032, L16
21, L2122, L2223, L2336,
L2235, L2537, L2629,
L2938, L631, L58, L89,
L939

1.5789

1.1340

1.5000

1.3406

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Fig. 8 Guangzhou power system in south China

Table 12 Restoration sequence of the generating units and the restoration paths of the Guangzhou power system in south China
Restoration
step

Restoration time,
min

Cranking power,
MW

Generating
units

Restoration paths

1
2
3

0
4
14

0
2
5

XNAP
TPP
BHP
XC
GZP
MZCP

34

18.3

44

11

59

61.2

ZJP
HYBP
HH
BJ
HPAP
YCP
HPBP
HYCP
STP
LHSP
LJP
NS
MS
ZNP
MZABP
GBP
LCP
GPTP
JLP
XTP
DMP
LXHP
DZBP

XNAP BEJ JIH RH TR TPP

BEJ LY GT JC BHP
BEJ LY XC
BEJ LY GZP
BEJ LY WXM RB CS YC TAX BIS KY
GQ MZCP
TAX TC PY ZJP
KY HYBP
GT TX FR HH
GT TX FR HH BJ
ZJP YF FS FC HPAP
TAX YCP
BIS HPBP
KY HYCP
CS XZ STP
CS XZ LHS LHSP
PY SIJ LJP
PY SIJ DY HDZ NS
PY SIJ DY HDZ HG MS
FS SQ SW ZNP
GQ MZABP
KY GBP
TAX ZEC LC LCP
TAX ZEC LC LCP DF ZG PT GPTP
TAX ZEC LC ASJ SIT JLP
TAX ZEC XT XIH XTP
BEJ CH WQ LIK LVT DMP
BEJ CH WQ LIK LXHP
BEJ CH WQ TL DZBP

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Fig. 9 Destination restoration network of the Guangzhou power system in south China

optimised with the objective of maximising the importance

degree of the skeleton network, whereas that shown in Fig. 6
is obtained by selecting the restoration paths for the
generating units. However, if the restoration of any line(s) or
node(s) in Fig. 7 fails, the skeleton network will not be the
optimal one, whereas a failure in the line or node restoration
of Fig. 6 will not have any impact on the restoration of
previous restoration paths, although the previous restoration
paths are still optimal. Hence, the restoration path
optimisation method may be more practical in the network
reconguration procedure of actual power systems.
4.2 Case 2: the Guangzhou power system in south
China
The Guangzhou power system in south China as shown in
Fig. 8 is also employed to demonstrate the proposed
method. There are 29 generating units, 163 buses (nodes)
and 212 transmission lines. The black-start generator is
located at XNAP, and it restarts right after a blackout so as
to provide the cranking power to this system. The
restoration sequence of the generating units and the
restoration paths of this actual system are optimised by
using the proposed method, and are shown in Table 12. The
restoration procedure is divided into six steps as shown in
Table 12, and the generating units are restored step by step.
If there are several generating units in the same step, these
generating units can be restored with a parallel mode. The
destination restoration network such obtained is shown
in Fig. 9.
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Concluding remarks

A new method to evaluate the node importance degree based

on the concept of regret is proposed, so as to properly take
into account the network characteristics of the power system
concerned. The quantitative node importance degree can be
obtained by using the proposed method. Then, a two-stage
network reconguration strategy is presented. In the
proposed strategy, the start-up sequence of generating units
is rst determined by maximising the restored generation
capacity, and then a serial or parallel restoration mode can
be employed based on the restoration state of the power
system; then, the path with maximum average importance
degree is selected to restore the generating units concerned.
Many factors, such as the restoration of important nodes
and operating risks, are considered. The problem associated
with the existing methods in which the restoration paths and
the skeleton network are separately determined could then
be solved at least to some extent by using the proposed
strategy. The results of the case studies demonstrate the
feasibility and efciency of the proposed method. The
developed method could be employed in power system
restoration after a complete blackout or local outages.

Acknowledgments

This work is jointly supported by National High Technology

Research and Development Program (863 Program)
(2011AA05A105), National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51007080), the Fundamental Research Funds for the
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2014, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 91103
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www.ietdl.org
Central Universities (2012QNA4011) and a key project from
State Grid Corporation of China (ZDK/GW002-2012).

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