Power Grid Partitioning Based on Functional Community Structure

Network partitioning is a popular research topic. Not all available partitioning methods are equally suitable for power grids. Community detection is a critical issue in complex network theory, and power grid is a typical type of complex network. This paper proposes a functional community structure based on an extended weighted network model. An extended adjacency matrix is used to represent an extended weighted complex network model based on coupling strength rather than the conventional adjacency matrix. Meanwhile, we upgraded the Newman fast algorithm of community detection for establishing a novel power grid partitioning algorithm. The electrical coupling strength (ECS) is defined to better reflect electrical characteristics between any two nodes in power grid. Modularity is also redefined as electrical modularity based on ECS. The Newman fast algorithm is upgraded with electrical modularity maximization as the objective to detect functional communities in power grids. A case study on IEEE test systems with 30, 39, 118, 300 buses and one Italian power network demonstrates the rationality of the extended weighted network model and partitioning algorithm.