Investigation of optimal power flow solution techniques considering stochastic renewable energy sources: Review and analysis

Increased penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) in power system networks poses several challenges in system planning and management due to their uncertain and non-dispatchable nature. Consequently, this paper presents a thorough and precise review of recent solution methodologies for solving the optimal power flow (OPF) problems incorporated with stochastic RESs based on multiple peer-reviewed research publications in reputed journals. The Teaching Learning Based Optimization algorithm has been discussed and implemented to solve the OPF problem considering solar photovoltaic, wind turbine, and tidal energy systems. Weibull, Lognormal, and Gumbel probability density functions representing the uncertainty associated with the availability of wind speed, solar irradiance, and tidal energy systems, respectively. The results obtained from the proposed technique validate its novelty regarding OPF problems like minimization of operating cost, power loss in transmission lines, enhancement of voltage profile, and voltage stability. The proposed solution technique for OPF problems is tested on a modified IEEE 30-bus test system. Thus, this study assists in understanding the OPF problem for new researchers concerned with this domain and also gives the idea of implementing nature-inspired optimization algorithms on a defined test system to solve the OPF problem.