Analysis of Numerical Methods to Include Dynamic Constraints in an Optimal Power Flow Model

Abstract

The optimization of the operation of power systems including steady state and dynamic constraints is efficiently solved by Transient Stability Constrained Optimal Power Flow (TSCOPF) models. TSCOPF studies extend well-known optimal power flow models by introducing the electromechanical oscillations of synchronous machines. One of the main approaches in TSCOPF studies includes the discretized differential equations that represent the dynamics of the system in the optimization model. This paper analyzes the impact of different implicit and explicit numerical integration methods on the solution of a TSCOPF model and the effect of the integration time step. In particular, it studies the effect on the power dispatch, the total cost of generation, the accuracy of the calculation of electromechanical oscillations between machines, the size of the optimization problem and the computational time.

Keywords

• power system transient stability
• economic dispatch
• numerical integration methods
• non-linear programming
• optimal power flow