Systems and methods for cognitive alarm management in a power grid are described. In one embodiment, sensor measurements are transformed to determine the state of a power grid. Given current state information relating to the power grid, various analyses of the alarms may be conducted to produce various rankings of the alarms (e.g., by severity, graph analyses, etc.). In an embodiment, using power flow analysis, an optimal ranking is identified from the rankings in which a causal alarm is prioritized for resolution. Given the resolution of the causal alarm, remaining alarms (either all or a sub-set) may be resolved without further action. Thus, an embodiment provides an appropriate ranking of alarm conditions in a power grid such that the optimal resolution of alarms may be achieved. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.