A Quadratic Convex Approximation of Optimal Power Flow in Distribution System with Application in Loss Allocation

Abstract: In this paper, a novel quadratic convex optimal power flow model, namely, MDOPF, is proposed to determine the optimal dispatches of distributed generators. Based on the results of MDOPF, two price mechanisms, distribution locational marginal price (DLMP) and distribution locational price (DLP), are analyzed. For DLMP, an explicit method is developed to calculate the marginal loss that does not require a backward/forward sweep algorithm and thus reduces the computational complexity. However, the marginal loss component in DLMP will cause over-collection of losses (OCL). To address this issue, DLP is defined, which contains two components, the energy cost component and loss component, where the loss component is determined by the proposed loss allocation method (LAM). Numerical tests show that the proposed MDOPF has a better accuracy than existing OPF models based on linear power flow equations. In addition, the proposed marginal loss method and DLMP algorithm have satisfactory accuracy compared with benchmarks provided by ACOPF, and the proposed DLP can eliminate OCL.