Detection and identification of topology errors in electric power systems

A method for detecting topology errors in electric power networks is developed by providing a geometric interpretation of the measurement residuals caused by such errors. A test for single topology errors is presented that is similar to the normalized residuals test for measurement errors. This test is generalized to multiple topology errors. The concept of critical network branches (where their removal renders the network unobservable) is introduced and extended to critical-branch k-tuples. It is shown that topology errors on critical branches cannot be detected from measurement residuals. An equation is developed for a matrix whose column linear dependencies determine topology error detectability and identifiability. An example for an IEEE 14 bus network is provided.>