A simulator for performability analysis of electrical power systems considering interdependencies

Electric Power Systems (EPS) become more and more critical for our society, but evaluating dependability and performability measures of such systems is a highly challenging task. Existing EPS are composed by two complex and tightly cooperating infrastructures: the Electric Infrastructure (EI) for the electricity generation and transportation to final users, and its Computer-based Control System (CCS), introduced in addition to existing SCADA systems and devoted to control the dynamics of EI and to trigger the reconfigurations in emergency situations. Significant dif- ficulties to analyze EPS are posed by the very high complexity of these infrastructures and by the tight coupling between them. Moreover, the complex interactions between such infrastructures make harder or just practically impossible both to analyze the overall system and to decompose it to focus on each single infrastructure. There is also a lack of well-established theories, models and tools supporting them, since studies on these topics are at an early stage of development. The European project CRUTIAL1, started on January 2006, aims to improve the studies in this field, with explicit focus on interdependencies between EI and the rest of the surrounding environment, in particular CCS. CRUTIAL also addresses new networked CCS systems for the management of the electric power grid, focusing on the issues arising from connection of artefacts controlling the physical process of electricity transportation to corporate networks (intranets) and to Internet.