Artificial intelligence and optimization: a way to speed up the security constraint optimal power flow

Optimal power flow is a widely used tool in power system planning and management. Due to the complexity of the power system both in terms of number of variables, degrees of freedom and uncertainty, there is a continuous effort to find more efficient computational methods to solve optimal power flow problems. This article presents a novel method to speed-up the solution of a security constraint optimal power flow problem. An unconventional warm start based on the training of a neural network is investigated as an option to improve the computational efficiency of the optimization problem. The principle of the method and the validity of the approach is demonstrated by different analysis performed on the IEEE14 test grid and based on a linearized mathematical formulation of the problem. The results show the effectiveness of the method in reducing the number of iterations needed to converge to global optimum.