A decentralized implementation of DC optimal power flow on a network of computers

This paper presents a decentralized implementation of the DC Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem on a network of workstations. Each workstation is assigned to a regional Transmission System Operator (TSO), who manages the operation the transmission system of his own region, as well as cross-border exchanges with neighboring regions. The workstations take part in an iterative process, exchanging information with each other and solving regional OPF sub-problems, until the global OPF solution is reached. Tie-line related information is exchanged between workstations assigned to neighboring regions. A master workstation, assigned to a Super-TSO, checks for the convergence of the algorithm. The parallel processing system is tested on various test systems, including a large real-world system, the Balkan power system.