Abstract - Protection System hidden failures have been
recognized as a contributing factor to power system cascading
outages. However, in the current bulk power system reliability
assessment practice, protection systems are generally assumed to
be perfect, and the effects of hidden failures in protection systems
are not taken into account. In this paper, the impact of protection
system hidden failures on bulk power system reliability is
investigated. A breaker-oriented bulk power system network
model is developed to include detailed system substation
configurations and associated protection system schemes.
Protection system constituents, such as transducers, relays,
circuit breakers, may suffer from hidden failures. Hidden
failures existing in transducers and relays can be detected by the
advanced system real time monitoring and analysis technologies.
Thus, the major concern of this work focuses on the analysis of
hidden failures in circuit breakers.