Surrogate-Assisted Multi-Objective Probabilistic Optimal Power Flow for Distribution Network with Photovoltaic Generation and Electric Vehicles

Abstract

The uncertainties of solar photovoltaics generation, electric vehicle charging demand, and home appliances load are the major challenge of energy management planning in the residential areas. Optimal allocation of battery energy storage systems for distribution networks based on probabilistic power flow (PPF) is an effective solution to deal with these uncertainties. However, the high computational burden is the main obstacle of this method. Therefore, this paper proposes a surrogate-assisted multi-objective probabilistic optimal power flow (POPF) to reduce the expensive computational time. The surrogate model is developed by using a machine learning method namely deep learning which is used for bypassing the deterministic load flow calculation. Zhao's point estimation method combined with Nataf transformation is selected to handle the PPF analysis considering correlated uncertain input variables. The multi-objective POPF problem is solved using the multi-objective differential evolution. The historical data including solar irradiation, ambient temperature, residential load, and electric vehicle (EV) travel distance is calculated in the low voltage distribution system to demonstrate the potential advantages of the proposed method. Numerical results show that the proposed surrogate assisted multi-objective POPF method provides the optimal solution for operating cost, helps to prolong transformer life and reducing environmental impact. Moreover, the results show that the proposed surrogate-assisted optimization framework gives a better solution when comparing with the conventional surrogate-assisted method.