We introduce an information visualization technique, known as GreenCurve, for large multivariate sparse graphs that exhibit small-world properties. Our fractal-based design approach uses spatial cues to approximate the node connections and thus eliminates the links between the nodes in the visualization. The paper describes a robust algorithm to order the neighboring nodes of a large sparse graph by solving the Fiedler vector of its graph Laplacian, and then fold the graph nodes into a space-filling fractal curve based on the Fiedler vector. The result is a highly compact visualization that gives a succinct overview of the graph with guaranteed visibility of every graph node. GreenCurve is designed with the power grid infrastructure in mind. It is intended for use in conjunction with other visualization techniques to support electric power grid operations. The research and development of GreenCurve was conducted in collaboration with domain experts who understand the challenges and possibilities intrinsic to the power grid infrastructure. The paper reports a case study on applying GreenCurve to a power grid problem and presents a usability study to evaluate the design claims that we set forth.

In Energy Management Systems, contingency analysis is commonly performed for identifying and mitigating potentially harmful power grid component failures. The exponentially increasing combinatorial number of failure modes imposes a significant computational burden for massive contingency analysis. It is critical to select a limited set of high-impact contingency cases within the constraint of computing power and time requirements to make it possible for real-time power system vulnerability assessment. In this paper, we present a novel application of parallel betweenness centrality to power grid contingency selection. We cross-validate the proposed method using the model and data of the western US power grid, and implement it on a Cray XMT system - a massively multithreaded architecture - leveraging its advantages for parallel execution of irregular algorithms, such as graph analysis. We achieve a speedup of 55 times (on 64 processors) compared against the single-processor version of the same code running on the Cray XMT. We also compare an OpenMP-based version of the same code running on an HP Superdome shared-memory machine. The performance of the Cray XMT code shows better scalability and resource utilization, and shorter execution time for large-scale power grids. This proposed approach has been evaluated in PNNL's Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center (EIOC). It is expected to provide a quick and efficient solution to massive contingency selection problems to help power grid operators to identify and mitigate potential widespread cascading power grid failures in real time.

Operating the electrical power grid to prevent power black-outs is a complex task. An important aspect of this is contingency analysis, which involves understanding and mitigating potential failures in power grid elements such as transmission lines. When taking into account the potential for multiple simultaneous failures (known as the N-x contingency problem), contingency analysis becomes a massively computational task. In this paper we describe a novel hybrid computational approach to contingency analysis. This approach exploits the unique graph processing performance of the Cray XMT in conjunction with a conventional massively parallel compute cluster to identify likely simultaneous failures that could cause widespread cascading power failures that have massive economic and social impact on society. The approach has the potential to provide the first practical and scalable solution to the N-x contingency problem. When deployed in power grid operations, it will increase the grid operator’s ability to deal effectively with outages and failures with power grid components while preserving stable and safe operation of the grid. The paper describes the architecture of our solution and presents preliminary performance results that validate the efficacy of our approach.