Open-DSOPF: an open-source optimal power flow formulation integrated with OpenDSS

It has been widely demonstrated that active network management (ANM) strategies will be required to avoid the violation of network operational limits in distribution networks with a rich presence of distributed energy resources (DERs). With the characteristics of different ANM strategies been varied, e.g. centralized or decentralized, a platform where the benefits and drawbacks of multiple approaches can be easily quantified and benchmarked is required. This work introduces an open-source python-based package with a three-phase unbalanced optimal power flow (OPF) model that is automatically created by extracting the data available from any network modelled in OpenDSS. This OPF formulation is flexible, enabling to incorporate any DER model and modify the objective function and constraints, opening many simulation opportunities.