Collaborative optimization of distribution grid operation

Electrical utilities strive for optimal grid operations while increasing efficiency and maintaining high reliability. With the advent of the Smart Grid, these objectives remain important worldwide. Recently many separate optimization applications for distribution grid operation have been deployed, including FDIR, IVVC, OFR, and DR. These applications may have been developed with sophisticated optimization algorithms and provide value in their own right. However each application is designed to serve specific tasks and does not consider other optimization programs' existence and mutual impacts, resulting in significantly reduced benefits or even conflicting control actions. This paper intends to address some of the problems that can arise from the lack of coordination among the distribution optimization programs. Three typical operation scenarios will be explored to demonstrate the potentially detrimental consequences due to lack of coordination. The observations and results from the operation scenarios studied with the standard IEEE 123 Bus circuit indicate that a well-designed coordinating mechanism is necessary for the various optimization programs to work together properly while achieving their corresponding objectives. This paper proposes a collaborative approach to solve the problem by considering the multiple-time-interval look-ahead capabilities, incorporating all the available controls, and coordinating the multiple system objectives in each of the optimization applications.