ATC based optimal power flow for contingent power systems using differential evolution

In this paper, optimal power flow based on available transfer capability (ATC) has been proposed for contingent power systems. In general, the total production cost is commonly used as the main objective for optimal power flow problems. However, in some circumstances, where the economical point of views is less important such as under an emergency state of partial blackout, the transmission security objective e.g. ATC is very useful. Maximizing the ATC implies to reduce probability of wide area blackout as a consequence. This paper performs contingency analysis of the power system. After an occurrence of some specific component failure, an ATC based optimal power flow problem has been formulated and solved by differential evolution (DE) method. To illustrate its use, the standard IEEE 14-bus test system was tested.