# Emergence of scale-free blackout sizes in power grids

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.06967 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.06967/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 14 Jul 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Power-grid stability predictions using transferable machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.07562/) (2021)
- [Data-Driven Interaction Analysis of Line Failure Cascading in Power Grid Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01061/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We model power grids as graphs with heavy-tailed sinks, which represent demand from cities, and study cascading failures on such graphs. Our analysis links the scale-free nature of blackout sizes to the scale-free nature of city sizes, contrasting previous studies suggesting that this nature is governed by self-organized criticality. Our results are based on a new mathematical framework combining the physics of power flow with rare event analysis for heavy-tailed distributions, and are validated using various synthetic networks and the German transmission grid.