Systemic Vulnerability of Swiss Power Grid to Natural Events

¹ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva,  , Switzerland
² Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva,  , Switzerland

Abstract

It is important to increase the security and robustness of power grids under a variety of events. In this case, “vulnerability analysis” is usually used to identify the most vulnerable elements of a power grid under different hazards. There are different kinds of methodology to identify vulnerability such as complex network, logical, functional methods and Monte Carlo simulation. In this work, the complex network, Swiss power grid, and seismic hazard are used as an approach, a test system, and a scenario, respectively. First, Swiss power grid is modeled using Gephi software and five different metrics of the complex network method are applied to the model. Then, TOPSIS as a multi-criteria decision method is used to combine the results of the previous step. Finally, to find out the most exposed nodes in the case of an earthquake, Swiss seismic hazard data is used and combined with TOPSIS outputs. The results show well the critical locations of power grid due to the seismic hazard.