Simulation of cascading failures in the Eletrosul high-voltage powergrid

a model for cascading failures in power-grid networks is used to study the robustness characteristics of a model of Eletrosul high-voltage power-grid against cascading failures. Based on measures of the electrical centrality and degree, the removal of key nodes is performed in order to explore the dynamical behavior of cascading failures as overloaded generators, substations and transmission lines are tripped offline the grid. The results indicate that major cascading failures follow from the failure of nodes with highest loads and that the existence of operational reserves might not be enough to prevent blackouts when failures occur in key points of the network.