Optimal distribution power flow for systems with distributed energy resources

Recently, there has been great interest in the integration of large numbers of small generation and storage resources at the distribution level. This will require new control strategies for efficient system performance. One issue that has not been addressed sufficiently is the coordinated dispatch of large numbers of these units. In this paper, an optimal distribution power flow strategy is proposed and implemented. The algorithm decomposes the overall system problem into two components: economic dispatch for energy and ancillary services based on market prices at the system level; and loss minimization at the distribution level. A combined quadratic programming and sectioning algorithm is used to find the solution. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the approach.