Power system restoration planning strategy based on optimal energizing time of sectionalizing Islands

Common power system restoration planning strategy is based on a 'build up' approach, where a blackout system is sectionalized among several islands for parallel restoration prior to resynchronization. In order to speed up the resynchronization of the islands, each island must have similar energizing times. However, there is a huge number of possible combinations of islands that can be formed. Thus, this paper proposes a method to determine optimal islands that have similar energizing times. The method involves identifying transmission lines that should not be connected to form the islands. The proposed method is based on the combination of heuristic and discrete optimization methods. The heuristic technique is proposed to find initial solution that is close to the optimal solution. This solution will guide the optimization technique, which is the discrete Artificial Bee Colony optimization method, to find the optimum solution. The proposed method also considers restoration constraints including black start generator availability, load-generation balance, and the maintenance of acceptable voltage magnitude within each island. The proposed method is validated via simulation using IEEE 39, 118-bus and 89-bus European systems. The advantage of the proposed method in terms of restoration time is demonstrated through a comparison with other literature.