Unifying Chance-Constrained and Robust Optimal Power Flow for Resilient Network Operations

Uncertainty in renewable energy generation has the potential to adversely impact the operation of electric networks. Numerous approaches to manage this impact have been proposed, ranging from stochastic and chance-constrained programming to robust optimization. However, these approaches either tend to be conservative or leave the system vulnerable to low-probability, high-impact uncertainty realizations. To address this issue, we propose a new formulation for stochastic optimal power flow that explicitly distinguishes between “normal operation,” in which automatic generation control (AGC) is sufficient to guarantee system security, and “adverse operation,” in which the system operator is required to take additional actions, e.g., manual reserve deployment. The new formulation has been compared with the classical ones in a case study on the IEEE-118 and IEEE-300 bus systems. We observe that our consideration of extreme scenarios enables solutions that are more secure than typical chance-constrained formulations, yet less costly than solutions that guarantee robust feasibility with only AGC.