Robustness of MERALCO network against incidental substation shutdowns and power-line disconnections

Abstract

Despite constant improvements and expansions to its power grid, MERALCO customers still experience inconvenient and costly power interruptions (per power meter in 2020: 1.5 events per 163 minutes total [MERALCO, Power On: 2020 Annual Report]). We examine the MERALCO electricity grid using complex network analysis to determine its level of robustness against incidental substation shutdowns and power-line disconnections by creating a data-based model. Using four disconnection algorithms we found that the grid is highly vulnerable to degree-based and betweenness centrality-based targeted attacks indicating a need to reinforce connections between transmission substations. Adding new connections and maximizing the grid clustering coefficient are effective for improving network robustness.