Abstract: The classical ac optimal power flow (OPF) problem is nonconvex and generally hard to solve. We propose a new conic relaxation obtained by combining semidefinite optimization with RLT. The proposed relaxation is stronger than the second-order cone relaxation, nearly as tight as the standard semidefinite relaxation, and up to one order of magnitude faster than for the semidefinite chordal approach on benchmark systems with up to 6515 nodes. We extend the approach to optimal reactive power dispatch with similar results and performance. This is a joint work with Christian Bingane and Sébastien Le Digabel.

Speaker: Miguel F. Anjos is Chair of Operational Research at the School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, and Inria International Chair. His research interests are in the theory, algorithms and applications of mathematical optimization. He was Editor-in-Chief of Optimization and Engineering, and sits on several other international editorial boards. He served on the MITACS Research Council since its creation in 2011 until 2017, and is now an Emeritus member. He is the current President-Elect of the INFORMS Section on Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment. His accolades include a Canada Research Chair, an NSERC Industrial Research Chair, a Humboldt Fellowship, the title of EUROPT Fellow, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Invited by: WISE Member Professor Kankar Bhattacharya