DSATools™ Add-On Module | OPF-RA Optimal Power Flow & Remedial Actions

Whereas conventional remedial action studies for resolving thermal and voltage insecurity issues rely on significant human effort by systematically adjusting system control settings to reach a satisfactory solution, OPF-RA formulates and solves an optimal powerflow (OPF) problem, which automatically determines the appropriate remedial actions enough to bring the system back to security, based on a set of user-defined controls and system operational criteria.

OPF-RA is based on the following techniques:

• Full AC OPF formulation
• Robust primal-dual interior-point solution algorithm

Control measures incorporated into OPF-RA:

• Generator voltage settings
• SVC/shunt voltage settings
• Switchable shunts
• Transformer taps
• Generator active power dispatches
• Load shedding

Types of constraints enforceable in OPF-RA:

• Bus voltage limits
• Branch thermal limits (MVA, Ampere, MW, MVAr)
• Interface flow limits (MVA and MVAr)
• Generator MW and MVAr limits
• Switchable, continuous/discrete shunt limits
• Transformer tap limits
• Load shedding limits
• All contingencies supported by VSAT

• Fully integrated with VSAT in terms of UI, input data compatibility, and computation engine
• Identification of remedial actions to resolve thermal and voltage stability violations
• Complementary to the existing sensitivity-base RA method in VSAT
• Capable of handling systems of very large size (up to 100,000 buses)
• Robust and highly efficient solver
• Customizable optimization and solution parameters

OPF-RA’s fast and efficient solution algorithm allows system planners and operators to solve various power systems problems, such as:

• Relieve base-case and post-contingency thermal and voltage stability violations
• Maximize system power transfer capability
• Improve system voltage profile

• Runs on MS Windows 7/10/server 2012 R2/server 2016
• Requires VSAT to run