A New Indicator of Transient Stability for Controlled Islanding of Power Systems: Critical Islanding Time

Abstract

Transient stability after islanding is of crucial importance because a controlled islanding strategy is not feasible if transient stability cannot be maintained in the islands created. A new indicator of transient stability for controlled islanding strategies, defined as the critical islanding time (CIT), is presented for slow coherency-based controlled islanding strategies to determine whether all the islands created are transiently stable. Then, the stable islanding interval (SII) is also defined to determine the appropriate time frame for stable islanding. Simulations were conducted on the New England test system–New York interconnected system to demonstrate the characteristics of the critical islanding time and stable islanding interval. Simulation results showed that the answer for when to island could be easily reflected by the proposed CIT and SII indicators. These two indicators are beneficial to power dispatchers to keep the power systems transiently stable and prevent widespread blackouts.