We propose a novel neural network embedding approach to model power transmission grids, in which high voltage lines are disconnected and reconnected with one-another from time to time, either accidentally or willfully. We call our architecture LEAP net, for Latent Encoding of Atypical Perturbation. Our method implements a form of transfer learning, permitting to train on a few source domains, then generalize to new target domains, without learning on any example of that domain. We evaluate the viability of this technique to rapidly assess curative actions that human operators take in emergency situations, using real historical data, from the French high voltage power grid.Figure 1: Electricity is transported from production nodes (top) to consumption nodes (bottom), through lines (green and red edges) connected at substations (black circles), forming a transmission grid of a given topology τ . Injections x ( x 1, x 2, x 3, x 4) (production or consumption) add up to zero.

In this paper, we introduce the problem of decision-oriented communications, that is, the goal of the source is to send the right amount of information in order for the intended destination to execute a task. More specifically, we restrict our attention to how the source should quantize information so that the destination can maximize a utility function which represents the task to be executed only knowing the quantized information. For example, for utility functions under the form $u\left(\boldsymbol{x};\ \boldsymbol{g}\right)$, $\boldsymbol{x}$ might represent a decision in terms of using some radio resources and $\boldsymbol{g}$ the system state which is only observed through its quantized version $Q(\boldsymbol{g})$. Both in the case where the utility function is known and the case where it is only observed through its realizations, we provide solutions to determine such a quantizer. We show how this approach applies to energy-efficient power allocation. In particular, it is seen that quantizing the state very roughly is perfectly suited to sum-rate-type function maximization, whereas energy-efficiency metrics are more sensitive to imperfections.

We address the problem of maintaining high voltage power transmission networks in security at all time. This requires that power flowing through all lines remain below a certain nominal thermal limit above which lines might melt, break or cause other damages. Current practices include enforcing the deterministic "N-1" reliability criterion, namely anticipating exceeding of thermal limit for any eventual single line disconnection (whatever its cause may be) by running a slow, but accurate, physical grid simulator. New conceptual frameworks are calling for a probabilistic risk based security criterion and are in need of new methods to assess the risk. To tackle this difficult assessment, we address in this paper the problem of rapidly ranking higher order contingencies including all pairs of line disconnections, to better prioritize simulations. We present a novel method based on neural networks, which ranks "N-1" and "N-2" contingencies in decreasing order of presumed severity. We demonstrate on a classical benchmark problem that the residual risk of contingencies decreases dramatically compared to considering solely all "N-1" cases, at no additional computational cost. We evaluate that our method scales up to power grids of the size of the French high voltage power grid (over 1000 power lines).

We address the problem of maintaining high voltage power transmission networks in security at all time, namely anticipating exceeding of thermal limit for eventual single line disconnection (whatever its cause may be) by running slow, but accurate, physical grid simulators. New conceptual frameworks are calling for a probabilistic risk-based security criterion. However, these approaches suffer from high requirements in terms of tractability. Here, we propose a new method to assess the risk. This method uses both machine learning techniques (artificial neural networks) and more standard simulators based on physical laws. More specifically we train neural networks to estimate the overall dangerousness of a grid state. A classical benchmark problem (manpower 118 buses test case) is used to show the strengths of the proposed method.

We propose a new method to efficiently compute load-flows (the steady-state of the power-grid for given productions, consumptions and grid topology), substituting conventional simulators based on differential equation solvers. We use a deep feed-forward neural network trained with load-flows precomputed by simulation. Our architecture permits to train a network on so-called "n-1" problems, in which load flows are evaluated for every possible line disconnection, then generalize to "n-2" problems without retraining (a clear advantage because of the combinatorial nature of the problem). To that end, we developed a technique bearing similarity with "dropout", which we named "guided dropout".

The segmentation of large scale power grids into zones allows a better understanding of its structure, as the control room operators will naturally but manually do for any study. In this paper we provide a new automatic hierarchical method based on the community detection algorithm \textit{Infomap}. Our main contribution is to offer as input a new representation of the power grid, called the security analysis, that represents power flow affinities beyond the connectivity of the grid, a point that will become even more relevant for tomorrow's cyber-physical system. Indeed we already discover few relevant and important clusters that are not connected in the actual grid topology. To better describe and investigate the method, we apply it here on the well-studied IEEE-RTS-96 and IEEE-118. We further applied our method on the large-scale French Power Grid which showed promising results given its puzzling resemblance with the historical RTE regional segmentation.

We address the problem of assisting human dispatchers in operating power grids in today's changing context using machine learning, with theaim of increasing security and reducing costs. Power networks are highly regulated systems, which at all times must meet varying demands of electricity with a complex production system, including conventional power plants, less predictable renewable energies (such as wind or solar power), and the possibility of buying/selling electricity on the international market with more and more actors involved at a Europeanscale. This problem is becoming ever more challenging in an aging network infrastructure. One of the primary goals of dispatchers is to protect equipment (e.g. avoid that transmission lines overheat) with few degrees of freedom: we are considering in this paper solely modifications in network topology, i.e. re-configuring the way in which lines, transformers, productions and loads are connected in sub-stations. Using years of historical data collected by the French Transmission Service Operator (TSO) "R\'eseau de Transport d'Electricit\'e" (RTE), we develop novel machine learning techniques (drawing on "deep learning") to mimic human decisions to devise "remedial actions" to prevent any line to violate power flow limits (so-called "thermal limits"). The proposed technique is hybrid. It does not rely purely on machine learning: every action will be tested with actual simulators before being proposed to the dispatchers or implemented on the grid.