  The electric power system is one of the cornerstones of modern society. One
of its most serious malfunctions is the blackout, a catastrophic event that may
disrupt a substantial portion of the system, playing havoc to human life and
causing great economic losses. Thus, understanding the mechanisms leading to
blackouts and creating a reliable and resilient power grid has been a major
issue, attracting the attention of scientists, engineers and stakeholders. In
this paper, we study the blackout problem in power grids by considering a
practical phase-oscillator model. This model allows one to simultaneously
consider different types of power sources (e.g., traditional AC power plants
and renewable power sources connected by DC/AC inverters) and different types
of loads (e.g., consumers connected to distribution networks and consumers
directly connected to power plants). We propose two new control strategies
based on our model, one for traditional power grids, and another one for smart
grids. The control strategies show the efficient function of the fast-response
energy storage systems in preventing and predicting blackouts in smart grids.
This work provides innovative ideas which help us to build up a robuster and
more economic smart power system.
