Recommendations to improve power system security: Lessons learned from the europe blackout on November 4

On November 4, 2006 at 22:10 local time, the UCTE (union for the coordination of the transmission of electricity) interconnected grid was split into three islands after the tripping of many high voltage lines due to overload, driving consumers with a total load of 14.5 GW into blackout. Technical information about the origin, the evolution, and the consequences of the blackout is presented in this paper. Then the restoration of the power grid is also described and the main causes leading to the blackout are discussed. In addition, recommendations to improve power system security are proposed and the basic framework of power system wide-area dynamic security defense is constructed to prevent similar blackout.