DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RELIABILITY AND SECURITY AND STABILITY

RELIABILITY

Is the overall objective in power system design and operation. To be reliable, the power system must be secure most of the time. To be secure, the system must be stable but must also be secure against other contingencies that would not be classified as stability problems e.g., damage to equipment such as an explosive failure of a cable, fall of transmission towers due to ice loading or sabotage. As well, a system may be stable following a contingency, yet insecure due to post-fault system conditions resulting in equipment overloads or voltage violations

SYSTEM SECURITY

May be further distinguished from stability in terms of the resulting consequences. For example, two systems may both be stable with equal stability margins, but one may be relatively more secure because the consequences of instability are less severe.

STABILITY

Security and stability are time-varying attributes which can be judged by studying the performance of the power system under a particular set of conditions. Reliability, on the other hand, is a function of the time-average performance of the power system; it can only be judged by consideration of the system’s behavior over an appreciable period of time.