Using OPF for Smart Grids: From Concept to Reality

The University of Melbourne’s Smart Grid lab has been involved in an exciting project researching Smart Grid technology. Researchers at the lab have been using Optimal Power Flow (OPF) as a means to control distributed energy resources in distribution networks.

The University’s Smart Grid lab is a virtual control room, and is as realistic as it gets. The lab features a real time simulator which is able to capture the operations of a realistic network, as well as a full SCADA system which interacts with the simulation in real time. Within the SCADA system, researchers have implemented an advanced control strategy based on the OPF.

As Prof. Nando Ochoa explains in the video, this exciting project is on the right track to demonstrate how this technique can be applied in the future by industry.

The project is led by Prof. Nando Ochoa, Professor of Smart Grids and Power Systems at The University of Melbourne, together with PhD student Michael Liu and Prof. Steven Low, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Caltech, USA.

Find out more about the research here.