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arXiv · 2402.00217

Exact and Heuristic Approaches for the Stochastic N-k Interdiction in Power Grids

Kaarthik Sundar·Andrew Mastin·Manuel Garcia·Russell Bent·Jean-Paul Watson
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Abstract

The article introduces the stochastic N-k interdiction problem for power grid operations and planning that aims to identify a subset of k components (out of N components) that maximizes the expected damage, measured in terms of load shed. Uncertainty is modeled through a fixed set of outage scenarios, where each scenario represents a subset of components removed from the grid. We formulate the stochastic N-k interdiction problem as a bi-level optimization problem and propose two algorithmic solutions. The first approach reformulates the bi-level stochastic optimization problem to a single level, mixed-integer linear program (MILP) by dualizing the inner problem and solving the resulting problem directly using a MILP solver to global optimality. The second is a heuristic cutting-plane approach, which is exact under certain assumptions. We compare these approaches in terms of computation time and solution quality using the IEEE-Reliability Test System and present avenues for future research.

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Kaarthik Sundar, Andrew Mastin, Manuel Garcia, Russell Bent, Jean-Paul Watson. 2024-01-31. Exact and Heuristic Approaches for the Stochastic N-k Interdiction in Power Grids. https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00217

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