Upcoming Events

Nonlinear Dynamics of Power Grids -- Braess' Paradox, Critical Links and Nonlocal Rerouting

Abstract

Robust energy supply and distribution fundamentally underlies our economy, industry and daily life. The ongoing switch of energy sources from fossil to renewable creates a multitude of challenges for operating future-compliant power grids. Renewable-source generation is intrinsically smaller, more distributed, more heterogeneous, fluctuating, correlated and thus requires system-wide planning, balance and control. In this talk I highlight some of the challenges from the perspective of network dynamical systems. In particular, I show why collective aspects of network dynamics as emerging through a multitude of co-acting nonlinearities play a crucial role in the existence of relevant invariant dynamics, their (in)stability, the prediction of critical links and non-local rerouting of flows. A mechanistic understanding of the collective power grid dynamics is thus crucial to design, plan, operate and control them.