An Efficient Approach for obtaining Feasible solutions from SOCP formulation of ACOPF

Abstract: Exact Second Order Conic Programming (SOCP) formulation of AC Optimal Power Flow (ACOPF) consists of non-convex arctangent constraints. Generally, these constraints have been ignored or approximated (at the expense of increased computational time) so as to solve the relaxed and convex SOCP formulation of ACOPF. As a consequence, retrieving unique and feasible bus voltage phasors for ACOPF of meshed networks is not always possible. In this letter, this issue has been addressed. The arctangent constraints have been represented by alternate linear constraints in the relaxed SOCP formulation of ACOPF, by exploiting the properties of the meshed power network. Numerical tests show that the proposed formulation gives an unique and feasible ACOPF solution, which is practically realizable from system operation perspective and with global optimality feature, as compared to other works reported in the literature. Moreover, the proposed formulation is extremely efficient as only one execution of formulation provides a feasible solution.