Spring 2016 Seminar Series

DATE: 4/21/16
LOCATION: E51-325
TIME: 4:15pm
Reception immediately following

SPEAKER:
Pascal Van Hentenryck

TITLE
Complexity, Approximation, and Relaxation of the Power Flow Equations

ABSTRACT
The design, control, and operation of the power grid, probably the largest and most expansive system ever engineered, require the solving of optimization problems over the steady-state power flow equations. The resulting mixed nonconvex programs are often computationally challenging and increasingly so with the increased stochasticity in generation and load. This talk presents some new complexity results, as well as a number of advances in approximating and relaxing the power flow equations to address emerging applications in power systems, including large-scale power restoration after blackouts, the design of resilient networks, and the integration of renewable generation. Extensive computational results demonstrate some of the benefits of the proposed techniques. Future directions in optimization over the dynamics and integrating electricity and gas networks will also be discussed.