Proper sizing and placement of distributed power generation aids the intentional islanding process

Blackouts occur in power networks after cascading failures which separate the network into some uncontrolled islands. These unintentional islands are mostly faced with a deficiency in active or reactive power balance leading to continuing failures and blackouts. Intentional or controlled islanding is one of the best solutions for preventing blackouts during cascading failures. Controlled islanding strategies can be based on different network features such as its topology and distribution of resources in a way that the imposed amount of load shedding will be minimized. Nowadays, the application of distributed generation (DG) units is increasing rapidly and such units can play a significant role in the process of intentional islanding. In this study, a method for proper sizing and placement of DG units in order to aid the intentional islanding process by strengthening the static stability of newly created islands and minimizing the amount of imposed load shedding was analyzed. The proposed method was applied on an IEEE 39-bus network. Simulation results demonstrated the ability and efficiency of proper sizing and placement of DG units from an intentional islanding point of view. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.