High-performance computing enabled contingency analysis for modern power networks

Abstract

Modern power networks face increasing vulnerability to cascading failures due to high complexity and the growing penetration of intermittent resources, necessitating rigorous security assessment beyond the conventional $N-1$ criterion. Current approaches often struggle to achieve the computational tractability required for exhaustive $N-2$ contingency analysis integrated with complex stability evaluations like small-signal stability. Addressing this computational bottleneck and the limitations of deterministic screening, this paper presents a scalable methodology for the vulnerability assessment of modern power networks, integrating $N-2$ contingency analysis with small-signal stability evaluation. To prioritize critical components, we propose a probabilistic \textbf{Risk Index ($R_i$)} that weights the deterministic \textit{severity} of a contingency (including optimal power flow divergence, islanding, and oscillatory instability) by the \textit{failure frequency} of the involved elements based on reliability data. The proposed framework is implemented using High-Performance Computing (HPC) techniques through the PyCOMPSs parallel programming library, orchestrating optimal power flow simulations (VeraGrid) and small-signal analysis (STAMP) to enable the exhaustive exploration of massive contingency sets. The methodology is validated on the IEEE 118-bus test system, processing more than \num{57000} scenarios to identify components prone to triggering cascading failures. Results demonstrate that the risk-based approach effectively isolates critical assets that deterministic $N-1$ criteria often overlook. This work establishes a replicable and efficient workflow for probabilistic security assessment, suitable for large-scale networks and capable of supporting operator decision-making in near real-time environments.