An AC OPF-based heuristic algorithm for optimal transmission switching

This paper focuses on reducing generators dispatch cost by means of transmission line switching. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) optimal power flow (OPF). A scalable heuristic algorithm is proposed to break-down the complexity of the problem due to the huge combinatorial space. The algorithm aims at providing the sequence of lines to be removed from service, one at the time, until no further decrease in the dispatch cost can be obtained. It identifies the line candidate for removal at each step by exploiting the (continuously relaxed values of) lines breaker statuses at the solution of a relaxed OPF problem. The algorithm thus relies on solving a sequence of OPF problems formulated as nonlinear programs (NLPs). The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on the IEEE118-bus system. Results show that the approach can provide good quality sub-optimal solutions with relatively small computational effort and by removing only few lines from service.