Finding the most critical contingencies in a power system is a difficult task as multiple evaluations of load and generation scenarios are needed. This paper presents a mathematical formulation for selecting, ranking, and grouping the most critical N-1 network contingencies, based on the calculation of a Power Constraint Index (PCI) obtained from the Outage Transfer Distribution Factors (OTDF). The results show that the PCI is only affected by the impedance parameter of the transmission network, the topology, and the location of all generators. Other methods, such as the Performance Index (PI) and the Overload Index (OL) are affected by the power generation and demand variations. The proposed mathematical formulation can be useful to accelerate the calculation of other methods that evaluate contingencies in power system planning and operation. Furthermore, the fast calculation of indices makes it suitable for online evaluation and classification of multiple events considering the current topology. The results showed that the proposed al- gorithm easily selected and ranked the expected contingencies, with the highest values of the index corresponding to the most critical events. In the filtering process, the computa- tional calculation time improved without losing the robustness of the results.

In this paper voltage stability is analysed based not only on the voltage deviations from the nominal values but also on the number of limit violating buses and severity of voltage limit violations. The expression of the actual state of the system as a numerical index like severity, aids the system operator in taking better security related decisions at control centres both during a period of contingency and also at a highly stressed operating condition. In contrary to conventional N – 1 contingency analysis, Northern Electric Reliability Council (NERC) recommends N – 2 line contingency analysis. The decision of the system operator to overcome the present contingency state of the system must blend harmoniously with the stability of the system. Hence the work presents a novel N – 2 contingency analysis based on the continuous severity function of the system. The study is performed on 4005 possible combinations of N – 2 contingency states for the practical Indian Utility 62 bus system. Static VAr Compensator is used to improve voltage profile during line contingencies. A multi- objective optimization with the objective of minimizing the voltage deviation and also the number of limit violating bus with optimal location and optimal sizing of SVC is achieved by Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm.