Distribution of blackouts in the power grid and the Motter and Lai model

Carreras, Dobson, and colleagues have studied empirical data on the sizes of blackouts in real grids modeled them with computer simulations using direct current approximation. They found that resulting blackout are distributed as a power law suggested this is because driven to self-organized critical state. In contrast, more recent studies distribution cascades bimodal either very small or large blackout, engulfing finite fraction system. Here we reconcile two approaches investigate how changes model parameters, including tolerance criteria dynamic rules failure overloaded lines during cascade. addition, study same problem for Motter Lai find similar results, suggesting physical laws flow network not important topology, overload conditions, failure.