The hidden failure effects
analysis shows that some initial system disturbances can result in
the unnecessary outages of intact power system equipment
because of hidden failures in circuit breaker trip mechanisms.
Contingencies resulting from hidden failure outages are further
evaluated by a security-constrained adequacy evaluation
methodology to obtain their influence on system reliability. The
proposed analysis procedure is demonstrated with a breaker-
oriented 24-substation reliability test system, which is developed
based on the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system and integrates
explicit substation and protection system models in the network
model. Evaluation results show that protection system hidden
failures downgrade the system reliability level because they lead
to the outages of undamaged equipment following initial system
disturbances.