High-Performance Computing (HPC): Application & Use in the Power Grid

The intent of this paper is to present a tutorial overview of high-performance computing (HPC) and its application to solving power system problems. The emphasis is on the trend of multi-core HPC computers and on the need for parallel computing to utilize these computers. Following the introduction of the concept of HPC, several types of HPC hardware and software are presented. HPC programming tools are important to facilitate programming with HPC computers. Different programming tools are introduced, with a specific example of parallel codes. HPC applications to power systems are presented for solving problems of state estimation and contingency analysis using HPC computers. Performance improvement is significant as shown in these applications. Further research and code development are necessary to expand the use of HPC in the power system domain.