PowerWorld Simulator Optimal Power Flow Overview

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Note: The OPF option in PowerWorld Simulator is only available if you have purchased the OPF add-on to the base package. To learn more about the OPF, please read through the information contained in these help files. Contact PowerWorld Corporation for details about ordering the OPF version of Simulator.

The PowerWorld Simulator (Simulator) is an interactive power system simulation package designed to simulate high voltage power system operation. In the standard mode Simulator solves the power flow equations using a Newton-Raphson power flow algorithm. However with the optimal power flow (OPF) enhancement, Simulator OPF can also solve these equations using an OPF. In particular, Simulator OPF uses a linear programming (LP) OPF implementation.

All of the OPF commands and options are accessed using the LP OPF main menu item. Other commands in this menu are used to specify input options, see results, and store/retrieve OPF specific data into auxiliary files.

The purpose of an OPF is to minimize an objective (or cost) function by changing different system controls taking into account both equality and inequality constraints which are used to model the power balance constraints and various operating limits.

In Simulator OPF the LP OPF determines the optimal solution by iterating between solving a standard power and then solving a linear program to change the system controls to remove any limit violations. See OPF Primal LP for more details.