SEMINAR PRESENTATION

ON
WIDE AREA BLACKOUT
(AN ELECTRICAL DISASTER)

Contents
1) Introduction
2) What is blackout?
3) Types of blackout
4) July2012 India blackout
5) Why Blackout?
6) Preventing blackout
7) Synchrophasor Monitoring
8) Fact Devices
9) Distributed generation
10)Why it is a disaster?
11)Conclusion

1. Introduction
Apower outage(also called apower cut, apower
blackout, or apower failure) is a short- or long-term loss
of theelectric powerto an area.
There are many causes of power failures in an electricity
network. Examples of these causes include faults atpower
stations,
damage
toelectric
transmission
lines,substationsor other parts of thedistributionsystem,
ashort circuit, or the overloading of electricity mains.
Power failures are particularly critical at sites where the
environment and public safety are at risk. Institutions such
ashospitals, sewagetreatment plants,mines, and the like
will usually have backup power sources such asstandby
generators, which will automatically start up when electrical
power is lost.
Other critical systems, such astelecommunication, are also

2) What is a blackout?
A blackout refers to the total loss of power to an area
and is the most severe form of power outage that can
occur in a power system.
Blackouts which results inpower stations tripping are
particularly difficult to recover quickly.
Outages may last from a few minutes to a few weeks
depending on
1. The nature of the blackout and
2. the configuration of the electrical network

3) Types of Blackout
Power outages are categorized into three different
phenomena, relating to the duration and effect of the
outage:
1. Atransient faultis a momentary (a few seconds) loss
of power typically caused by a temporary fault on a
power line. Power is automatically restored once the
fault is cleared.

2. Abrownoutis a drop involtagein an electrical

power supply.
The term brownout comes from the
dimming experienced by
lighting when the voltage
sags. Brownouts can cause poor
performance of
equipment or even incorrect operation.

4) July 2012 India blackout

Largest
history

power

outage

in

Occurred as two separate

events on 30 and 31 July
2012
Affected over
people,
half
population

620
of

million
India's

Spread across 22 states in

Northern,
Eastern,
and
Northeast India.

5) Reasons behind July

Weak
Blackout
inter-regional
power
transmission corridors due
multiple existing outages

to

High Loading on 400 kV BinaGwalior-Agra link.

Inadequate response by SLDCs to
the instructions of (RLDCs) to
reduce overdraw by the Northern
Region
utilities
and
underdrawal/excess generation by
the Western Region utilities.
Loss of 400 kV Bina-Gwalior link
due to

Angular Separation between

NR and Grid

6) Preventing blackouts
Long Term plans:

Short Term plans:

Adequate
transmission
access to load centers

Implementation of
special protection
schemes

Sufficient generation
Dynamic simulation
Distributed generation

Proper use of FACT

devices

7) Synchrophasor Monitoring
Most monitoring of the
grid is based on nonsimultaneous
average
values .
Monitoring of line voltage
phase angles (phasors)
can fill that gap, providing
the
instantaneous
measurement of electrical
magnitudes and angles.

Use of phasor measurements

Dynamic Security Assessment

(DSA)

Main Features OF DSA

Complete analysis capabilities including voltage
stability, transient stability, small signal stability, thermal
overloads,
voltage
decline/rise,
transient
voltage/frequency, and relay margins.
Fully graphical data setup and program operation
Advanced output analysis tools
Model handling capability up to 100,000 buses
Fast and accurate leading-edge solution engines
Data conversion from most commercial data formats

 Highly automated analysis features including automatic

security limit search
Easy-to-use
distributed
performance

computing

for

scalable

Advanced user-defined modeling capabilities

Can be connected to energy management systems for
on-line security analysis

8) FACT devices

Series compensation
In series compensation, the FACTS is connected in
series with the power system. It works as a controllable
voltage source. Series inductanceexists in all AC
transmission lines. On long lines, when a large current
flows, this causes a large voltage drop. To compensate,
series capacitors are connected, decreasing the effect of
the inductance.
Shunt compensation
In shunt compensation, power system is connected
inshunt(parallel) with the FACTS. It works as a
controllablecurrent source. Shunt compensation is of two
types:

1.Shunt capacitive compensation

This method is used to improve thepower factor.
Whenever an inductive load is connected to the
transmission line, power factor lags because of lagging
load current. To compensate, a shunt capacitor is
connected
which
draws
current
leading
the
sourcevoltage. The net result is improvement in power
factor.
2.Shunt inductive compensation
This
method
is
used
either
when
charging
thetransmission line, or, when there is very low load at
the receiving end. Due to very low, or no load very low
current flows through the transmission line. Shunt
capacitance in the transmission line causes voltage
amplification (Ferranti effect). The receiving end voltage
may become double the sending end voltage (generally in
case of very long transmission lines). To compensate,

9) Distributed Generations
Use wind turbines, Solar
arrays, Geothermal,
Stream turbine from a
small local stream,
Wave, Tidal energy
Offer significant
economic,
environmental and
security benefits
Small, modular, located
near load site

Preventing Blackouts
Summary
Good design and operating
practices could minimize the
occurrence and impact of
widespread outages
Reliability criteria
Robust stability controls
Coordinated emergency
controls
Real-time system
monitoring and control
Need for a single entity with
overall responsibility for
security of entire
interconnected system

Why blackout is a disaster?

Electric power: Essential resource of national security
It affects : finance, transportation, food and water
supply, health and welfare, communications, research,
heating, cooling, lighting, computer and electronics,
industries, commercial enterprise and many more
Impact on grid and public life is countless

10) Conclusion
Will there be a blackout in future???
Engineers tend to learn from the past
... but systems are usually prepared to the last (rather
than future) war
Improvements in communications and coordination in
SLDC,RLDC and generating stations
... but new challenges are looking ahead

REFERENCES:
I.

http://www.powermin.nic.inAugust 2012

II. http://wikipedia.org/India_blackouts
III. http://www.ieee.org