Computationally effective revenue optimisation technique for economical load shedding in power systems

Load shedding is usually carried when there is a mismatch between demand and supply of electrical power, or in cases where the Transmission and Distribution infrastructure is heavily overloaded. When load shedding is performed, the utility incurs significant losses in revenue. Indiscriminate cutting of loads is the order of the day in developing countries (like India), even when India is the third largest producer and fourth largest consumer of electrical energy in the world. This paper discusses a novel algorithm for performing load shedding in such a way that the impact on revenue is minimal, all the while keeping the computational complexity low and making the process robust enough for allowing rapid action in cases of critical system threats that may amount to blackouts.