Introduction
Modern society is increasingly dependent on reliable power
supply. But due to the deregulation of power industry, aging infrastructure
and many other factors, power systems are pushed close
to critical operating limits [1]. Meanwhile many new facilities
are introduced into power system, network structure and dynamic
behaviors of power system are becoming more and more complex.
Especially in the market environment, generation companies are
independent entities pursuing the maximum of profits, traditional
management is replaced by distributed decision-making, and
surely this will have a great impact on power systems [2]. For
the above-mentioned reasons, the risk of blackouts is still existing
or to some extent even increasing. In recent years, some widespread
blackouts have occurred all over the world, including the
well-known outages in North America and Canada (2003), Japan
(2011) and India (2012). The restoration of power system is
attracting more and more attention for the catastrophic results of
blackouts. According to actual experience, probability of blackouts
can be decreased through applying novel equipment and