Power System Operation and Planning

Lecture - Optimal power flow

Abdul Basit
Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy (PCAS-E)
University of Engineering & Technology (UET), Peshawar

USPCAS-E 1
Economic dispatch – summary

• Economic dispatch determines the best way to

minimize the current generator operating costs
• Economic dispatch is not concerned with
determining which units to turn on/off (this is the
unit commitment problem)
• Economic dispatch ignores the transmission system
limitations

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Economic dispatch – inefficiency

• The demand-supply balance is in aggregate for entire

system
• The inherent assumption was that power flow will
follow such a simple constraint

• In practice, power flow is determined by physical

laws of electricity flow (load flow equations)

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From ELD to OPF

• The load flow equations are introduced in Economic

Load Dispatch (ELD) as demand-supply balance
equations
• The demand-supply balance is effected at each bus
individually. Not for the aggregate system.
• The optimum solution yields a set of generation
variables that minimize costs and transmission losses
while satisfying the physical laws of flow of electricity
• It becomes a constrained non-linear optimization
problem

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Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

• The goal of an optimal power flow (OPF) is to determine

the “best” way to instantaneously operate a power
system.
• Usually “best” = minimizing operating cost.
• OPF is commonly expressed as minimizing of electrical
losses in the transmission system OR as the minimum
shift in generator set point or other control from its
optimum point
• OPF considers the impact of the transmission network
• OPF is used as basis for real-time pricing in many
electricity markets.

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Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

• OPF functionally combines the power flow with

economic dispatch
• Minimize cost function, such as operating cost,
taking into account realistic equality and inequality
constraints
• Equality constraints
– bus real and reactive power balance
– generator voltage set points
– area MW interchange

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Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

• Inequality constraints
– transmission line/transformer/interchange flow limits
– generator MW limits
– generator reactive power MVAr limits or capability curves
– bus voltage magnitudes
• Available Controls
– Generator MW outputs
– OLTC transformer taps, phase-shift taps
– Switched capacitor settings
– Load shedding
– Reactive injection of SVC
– Etc.

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Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

PCAS-E 8
Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

• OPF can incorporate various control variables

– Generator Voltage
– Real and reactive power generation
– Switched capacitor settings
– Reactive injection for a SVC
– Load MW and MVAr curtailment (load shedding)
– OLTC transformer tap settings, etc.

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Optimal Power Flow (OPF)

• Minimizes different objective functions

– Cost of operation
– Deviation from optimum settings (or minimum control
shift)
– Real power losses
– Cost of load curtailment
– Number of controls
– Installation cost of new capacitors / reactors
– Cost of MVAr supplied
– Total emissions

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Characteristic features of OPF
• Different objective functions can be used
• Ability to include the detailed network configuration and
bus-wise demand balance for both active and reactive
power, which, enables an exact representation of losses.
• The OPF can include many operating constraints and thus it
is possible to address different types of issues.
– limits on reactive power generation in addition to real power
generation,
– power flow limits (in either MW or MVA) on the transmission
lines and
– limits on the bus voltages ensure that the system is operated in
a secure manner.
• Allows inclusion of security constraints

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Security constraints

• OPF can include security constraints which represent

operation of the system after contingency outages.
This constraints allow the OPF to dispatch the system
in a defensive manner >> Security Constrained OPF.

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MW and MVAr loss minimization

• OPF is commonly used to minimize losses in the

system
• Usually reactive power controls are used
• Network limits are enforced
• With more control variables (more freedom), system
losses decrease

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Preventive Rescheduling (Security constrained dispatch)

• Maintains the security of the real-time system while

minimizing cost or loss
• Calculates a set of controls which ensure security
under both pre- and post-contingency conditions

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Corrective Rescheduling

• When the system is insecure, the goals are

– eliminating system overload
– corrective rescheduling to eliminate violations as soon as
possible
• Minimum operating cost / number of controls / shift
from optimum; can be used as Objective Function
• Should run often and use only the control necessary
to eliminate violations
• Once security is restored, normal execution
sequences can be restored
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Capacitor placement

• Seeks the best location to place in the system

• Minimize cost of new devices Capacitor Placement
• A medium-term planning study

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OPF Applications
1. The calculation of the optimum generation pattern, as well as all control
variables, to achieve the minimum cost of generation together with
meeting the transmission system limitations.
2. Using either the current state of the power system or a short term load
forecast, the OPF can be set up to provide a “preventive dispatch” if
security constraints are incorporated.
3. In an emergency, that is when some component of the system is
overloaded or a bus is experiencing a voltage violation, the OPF can
provide a “corrective dispatch” which tells the operators of the system
what adjustments to make to relieve the overload or voltage violation.
4. The OPF can be used periodically to find the optimum setting for
generation voltages, transformer taps and switched capacitors or static
VAR compensators (sometimes called “voltage-VAR” optimization).
5. The OPF can be used in economic analyses of the power system by
providing “bus or locational marginal costs”
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PCAS-E 18
OPF cost minimization optimum solution

PCAS-E 19
ELD with cost minimization objective

• Since transmission loss is neglected in ELD, it shows lower cost

than OPF
• Costs worth 52 MW of losses are not accounted for by ELD
• OPF provides bus-wise marginal cost for real and reactive
power

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Loss minimization optimum schedule

PCAS-E 21
Example – 2 bus bar system (unconstrained and
lossless)

PCAS-E 22
Example – 2 bus bar system (constrained and
lossless)

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Example – 3 bus system

• Consider a three bus case (bus 1 is system slack),

with all buses connected through 0.1 pu reactance
lines, each with a 100 MVA limit
• Let the generator marginal costs be
– Bus 1: 10 $ / MWhr; Range = 0 to 400 MW
– Bus 2: 12 $ / MWhr; Range = 0 to 400 MW
– Bus 3: 20 $ / MWhr; Range = 0 to 400 MW
• Assume a single 180 MW load at bus 3

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No line limits

PCAS-E 25
Line limits enforced

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Bus 3 marginal cost

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Bus 3 marginal cost

• All lines have equal impedance. Power flow in a

simple network distributes inversely to impedance of
path.
– For bus 1 to supply 1 MW to bus 3, 2/3 MW would take
direct path from 1 to 3, while 1/3 MW would “loop
around” from 1 to 2 to 3.
– Likewise, for bus 2 to supply 1 MW to bus 3, 2/3MW would
go from 2 to 3, while 1/3 MW would go from 2 to 1to 3.

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Bus 3 marginal cost

• With the line from 1 to 3 limited, no additional

power flows are allowed on it.
• To supply 1 more MW to bus 3 we need
– Pg1 + Pg2 = 1 MW
– 2/3 Pg1 + 1/3 Pg2 = 0; (no more flow on 1-3)
• Solving requires we up Pg2 by 2 MW and drop Pg1 by
1 MW -- a net increase of $14.

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Congested lines

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Solution for OPF
• Lambda iteration method
– Standard online economic dispatch, overlooks constraints on
transmission network and doesn’t produce a generation dispatch that
avoid overloads, voltage limits or security constraints
• Gradient method
– Slow in convergence and difficult to solve with inequality constraint
• Newton’s method
– Fast convergence but may give problems with inequality constraint
• Linear programming method
– Developed program, easily handles inequality constraints. Linearizes
objective function and inequality constraints
• Interior point method
– Developed and widely used method for OPF. Easily handle inequality
constraint
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Linear sensitivity analysis

• An indication of the change in one system quantity as another

quantity is varied
– Power system reacts to change in adjustable variables, solving the
power flow equations
– e.g. Change in MW or MVA flow, bus voltage etc. with change in
generator MW output, transformer tap position etc.

• Some sensitivity coefficients have non linear relationship with

the adjustments of power flow equations, resulting in rapid
change
– Therefore, sensitivity coefficient is good for small adjustments

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Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks

• To linearize the AC transmission model, define the general

equations for power flow injection

PCAS-E 33
Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks

At each bus

Approximating the AC network:

PCAS-E 34
Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks
In Matrix form:

In more compact form that uses vectors x & u, where x

represents the state vector of voltage and phase angles and u
represents vector of control variables

PCAS-E 35
Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks

Assume several transmission system dependent variables ‘h’, representing

MVA flow, bus voltage, line ampere etc. and we want to analyze sensitivity
with respect to change in control variables. ‘h’ can be expressed as a
function of state and control variable

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Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks
Linearizing the variables around the operating point

PCAS-E 37
Sensitivity coefficients on AC networks

The equation provides linear sensitivity coefficients between

the transmission system quantities ‘h’ and the control variables
‘u’

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 Linear
programming
method

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Linear Programming Optimal Power Flow
(LPOPF)

Linearize the input-output non linear

function by approximating as a series
of straight line segments having
power Pi1, Pi2, Pi3 with slopes si1,
si2 and si3

We only have control variables and do not

attempt to place state variables or all
power flow equations. The changes in
control variables are set up through
constraints.
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Linear Programming Optimal Power Flow
(LPOPF)
• Constraints
– In this example the control variables generator MW and
MVA, and TF taps are only considered &represented as ‘u’
– Real power balance equation

– Take derivative with respect to U

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PCAS-E 42
To constrain the MVA flow on a line, Taylor series is formed

Other constraints such as voltage magnitude limits, branch MW

limit etc. can be used in same manner

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 LPOPF with only Real Power Variables
Control variables: Generator Real Power (MW)
Constraint: Power system balance with constant load and losses

Power Balance eq.

Linear control variable

Can be expresses as:

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 LPOPF with only Real Power Variables
MW flow on line rs:

Power flow 0

Similar constraints are added for any network that is to held within limits
PCAS-E 45
OPF in electricity market

• Electricity markets trade a number of different

commodities, with MWh being the most
important
• A typical market has two settlement periods: day
ahead and real-time
– Day Ahead: Generators (and possibly loads) submit
offers for the next day; OPF is used to determine who
gets dispatched based upon forecasted conditions.
– Real-time: Modifies the day ahead market based upon
real-time conditions.

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Ideal Electricity markets

• Ideal power market is analogous to a lake

• Generators supply energy to lake and loads remove energy.
• Ideal power market has no transmission constraints
• Single marginal cost associated with demand-supply balance
constraint:
– buy from the least cost unit that is not at a limit
– this price is the marginal cost
• This solution is identical to the economic dispatch problem
solution

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Real Electricity Markets

• Different operating regions impose constraints --

total demand in region must equal total supply
• Transmission system imposes constraints on the
market
• Marginal costs become localized
• Requires solution by an optimal power flow

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