Visualizing the Electrical Structure of Power Systems

Recent work, using electrical distance metrics and concepts from graph theory, has revealed important results about the electrical connectivity of empiric power systems. Such structural features are not widely understood or portrayed. Power systems are often depicted using unenlightening single-line diagrams, and the results of loadflow calculations are often presented without insightful elucidation, lacking the necessary context for usable intuitions to be formed. For system operators, educators, and researchers alike, a more intuitive and accessible understanding of a power system's inner electrical structure is called for. Data visualization techniques offer several paths toward realizing such an ideal. This paper proposes various ways, in which electrical distance might be defined for empiric power systems, and records how well each candidate distance measure may be embedded in two dimensions. The resulting 2-D projections form the basis for new visualizations of empiric power systems and offer novel and useful insights into their electrical connectivity and structure.