This paper summarizes recent advancements on spatio-temporal data-driven and machine learning methods for static and dynamic security assessment, and their particular use cases. It is a collective effort of different research groups members of the IEEE Working Group on Big Data Analytics for Transmission Systems, to provide transmission system operators (TSOs) with innovative tools and ideas for their potential implementation. The algorithms presented here are classified as non-training and training approaches, namely spatio-temporal and machine learning based, considering as input time series from time domain simulations, and or synchrophasor data from wide-area monitoring systems. The efficacy of these algorithms is then evaluated in different IEEE benchmark models and using real system measurements from different countries.

Due to the increasing system stability issues caused by the technological revolutions of power system equipment, the assessment of the dynamic security of the systems for changing operating conditions (OCs) is nowadays crucial. To address the computational time problem of conventional dynamic security assessment tools, many machine learning (ML) approaches have been proposed and well-studied in this context. However, these learned models only rely on data, and thus miss resourceful information offered by the physical system. To this end, this paper focuses on combining the power system dynamical model together with the conventional ML. Going beyond the classic Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs), this paper proposes Selected Physics Informed Neural Networks (SPINNs) to predict the system dynamics for varying OCs. A two-level structure of feed-forward NNs is proposed, where the first NN predicts the generator bus rotor angles (system states) and the second NN learns to adapt to varying OCs. We show a case study on an IEEE-9 bus system that considering selected physics in model training reduces the amount of needed training data. Moreover, the trained model effectively predicted long-term dynamics that were beyond the time scale of the collected training dataset (extrapolation).

This paper proposes a method to compute corrective control actions for dynamic security in real-time and quantifies the economic value of corrective control. Lowered inertia requires fast control methods in real-time to correct system operation and maintain system security when equipment fails. However, using corrective control beyond such emergency failure measures does not make fully use of them. The key contribution of this work is the optimal use of corrective control applications in combination with preventive strategies to enhance the network utilisation, reduce the normal operating costs while maintaining adequate security levels. The proposed approach learns a neural network for safety certificates and models the predicted safe dynamic post-fault state as algebraic constraints in an AC optimal power flow (OPF) deciding close to real-time on the optimal corrective control. Considering these safety constraints within the ACOPF can balance simultaneously the system transient stability with the costs for preventive and corrective control. This proposed approach outperforms sub-optimal approaches aiming at sequentially finding the balance. Case studies were based on the IEEE 9-bus system with integrated electrical vehicles and shares of wind power up-to 40% and on the IEEE 39-bus and 118-bus systems. The proposed approach outperforms baseline control approaches in stability, economics, and carbon emissions. One baseline approach was preventive wind curtailment, against which the proposed approach reduced operating costs by up-to 60%, decreased unstable operations by 50% and reduced carbon emissions by 60% in the IEEE 9-bus. In the IEEE 39-bus and 118-bus systems, the approach was promising for larger systems.

Machine Learning (ML) for real-time Dynamic Security Assessment (DSA) promises a probabilistic approach to secure lower safety margins and costs. However, future systems with a high share of renewables have low inertia and converter-interfaced devices resulting in faster dynamics. Past research on ML-based DSA used high inertia systems to study ‘the best’ ML data, features, and models building upon each other's work for decades. Seldom has ML-based research for DSA questioned whether the underlying assumptions for (and the conclusions of) these studies are still valid for low inertia systems. This work studies exemplary changes in assumptions (and conclusions) for ML-based DSA when moving from High Inertia (HI) to Low Inertia (LI) systems. The dynamical system of the LI system is brought in perspective with the most typical ML-based approaches, which are organised in sequential steps. The steps consider the generation of the training database, the data pre-processing and feature selection, the model training and validation. This work analyses each step individually for the changed assumptions in the dynamical LI system, and subsequently, a case study provides the evidence that considering a LI system to identify the ‘best’ ML approaches is important. The case studies on IEEE 14 and 68 bus systems confirm that LI systems must be optimised for security (otherwise, they result in 80% less security than HI systems). The key findings, however, are that using ML makes significantly more sense in LI systems than in HI systems as the LI dynamics are in shorter timescales (and the advantage of ML is to predict security in milliseconds) and that secure/insecure operations can be separated more straightforwardly in LI systems as ML increases the accuracy by up-to 40% towards close to 100% when using neural networks.

Machine learning has been used in the past to construct predictors, also known as classifiers, for dynamic security assessment. Although accurate classifiers can be trained for a single topology, often they do not work for another. However, the power system topology can change frequently during operation due to maintenance and control actions. At one topological configuration, the system may have a different response to a fault than at another as the underlying distribution of power flows can be completely different. Quantifying the impact of changes in the topology on the predictive models’ performance is an important step forward to minimize inaccurate predictions and improve their reliability. In this paper, for the first time, a metric for quantifying the impact of a topology change on the accuracy of the classification model is proposed. The key novelty is to first select a subset of power flow features with a physically informed feature selection technique and subsequently compute the metric with a novel convex hull-based analysis. In addition, the approach can advise to effectively constructing new training databases that improve the accuracy of new machines trained after high-impact topology changes. Through a case study using transient stability on the IEEE 68-bus system, the use of the proposed metric in real-time operation was demonstrated. 17 high-impact topology changes were successfully detected among 42 studied topological changes. The subsequent effective construction of the training database improved the predictive accuracy by around 10%. An interesting finding is the amount of newly generated data can be reduced by up to 85% as often the generated data is the barrier for data-driven DSA. The proposed workflow significantly reduces data and trains robust classifiers against topological changes marking a fundamental step forward.

Digitalization is one of the key drivers for energy system transformation. The advances in communication technologies and measurement devices render available a large amount of operational data and enable the centralization of such data storage and processing. The greater access to data opens up new opportunities for a more efficient and decentralized management of the energy system. At the distribution level of the energy system, local electricity markets (LEMs) provide new degrees of flexibility by trading and balancing the energy locally and offering ancillary services to the wider transmission and distribution system operators. Maximizing the grid impact from this flexibility calls for novel data analytics and artificial intelligence techniques to enhance the system's security and reduce the energy costs of local prosumers. At the same time, however, relying on data-based approaches increases the risk of cyberattacks, and robust countermeasures are, therefore, needed as an integral aspect of digitalization efforts. This article discusses the key role of centralized data analytics to fully benefit from the advantages of LEMs in terms of system's security enhancement and energy costs' reduction. Data-driven paradigms are investigated that allow for flexibility from decentralized markets, mitigate the physical security risks, and devise defensive strategies shielding the system from cyber threats.