A comparison of the AC and DC power flow models for LMP calculations

TLDR

The study compares AC and DC power flow models for LMP calculations, evaluating tradeoffs between accuracy and speed. The authors analyze DC model approximations and their effects on SCOPF and LMP, then evaluate these impacts through case studies on a 37‑bus system and a 12,965‑bus Midwest grid. The comparison shows that although the DC approximation reduces accuracy, its LMP results closely match the full AC solution while offering significantly faster computation.

Abstract

The paper examines the tradeoffs between using a full ac model versus the less exact, but much faster, dc power flow model for LMP-based market calculations. The paper first provides a general discussion of the approximations associated with using a dc model, with an emphasis on the impact these approximations will have on security constrained OPF (SCOPF) results and LMP values. Then, since the impact of the approximations can be quite system specific, the paper provides case studies using both a small 37 bus system and a somewhat larger 12,965 bus model of the Midwest U.S. transmission grid. Results are provided comparing both the accuracy and the computational requirements of the two models. The general conclusion is that while there is some loss of accuracy using the dc approximation, the results actually match fairly closely with the full ac solution.