EPNES: Robustness, Efficiency, and Security of Electric Power Grid in a Market Environment

与南加州爱迪生公司和东北公用事业公司合作，研究的目标是开发可靠、负担得起和安全的电力的理论、模型和方法。将执行两项任务：复杂系统的鲁棒性。像许多关键的基础设施一样，电网可能会经历级联崩溃，一个看似小的事件会级联成系统无法执行其功能的大规模故障。我们的首要任务是开发基于模拟的方法来减少崩溃的脆弱性。经济和游戏考虑。本文考虑了两个基本的市场问题。第一种是独立系统运营商使用的拍卖。我们认为，目前的拍卖设计不当，导致客户的成本高于必要水平。提出了正确的表述和新的方法。第二个问题是从电力供应商的角度出发，重点关注在考虑实时市场和管理风险的同时优化前一天决策的方法。我们的结果将被验证基准问题，新英格兰和加利福尼亚电力市场。智力的价值在于我们认识到问题的复杂性，并试图从不同的角度来解决问题。第一个任务的关键思想是使用不一定提供精确性能值，但提供正确性能顺序的模型。这是基于一个众所周知的事实，即顺序更容易确定该值，因此模型只需要捕获支配崩溃行为的基本特征。类似地，第二个任务将需要解决具有不可分离结构的混合整数问题。我们的关键思想不是坚持最优解，而是基于一种新的“代理优化框架”，以一种计算效率高的方式获得具有可量化质量的近最优解。电力基础设施代表了几乎所有关键网络基础设施（交通、金融、银行、应急服务、政府、通信、媒体、制造业、社会等）共有的特征，因此拟议的研究将对其他基础设施产生更广泛的影响。此外，我们将通过课程、研讨会、会议和面向高中学生和教师的暑期项目，接触到不同层次的学生和专业人士。

In conjunction with Southern California Edison and Northeast Utilities, the goal of the research is to develop theory, models, and methods for reliable, affordable, and secure power. Two tasks will be performed:Robustness of Complex Systems. Like many critical infrastructures, a power grid can experience cascading collapse where a seemingly small event cascades into a massive inability of the system to carry out its function. Our first task is to develop simulation-based methods for reducing vulnerability to collapse.Economic and Gaming Considerations. Two fundamental market issues are considered. The first is the auctions used by Independent System Operators. We believe that current auctions are improperly designed resulting in higher than necessary costs to customers. A correct formulation and a novel methodology are proposed. The second issue is from the perspective of power providers, and focuses on methods that optimize day-ahead decisions while considering real-time markets and managing risks. Our results will be validated against benchmark problems, the New England and California Power Markets. The intellectual merit lies in our recognition of the complexity, and tries to address the problems from a different perspective. The key idea for the first task is to use a model that not necessarily providing the exact performance value, but providing the correct performance order. This is based on the well-known fact that order is much easier to determine that value, and consequently a model only needs to capture the essential features that dominate the collapse behavior. Similarly, the second task would require solving mixed-integer problems with a non-separable structure. Rather than insisting on optimal solutions, our key idea is to obtain near-optimal solutions with quantifiable quality in a computationally efficient manner based on a novel "surrogate optimization framework." The electric power infrastructure typifies the characteristics shared by virtually all critical networked infrastructures (transportation, finance, banking, emergency services, government, communications, media, manufacturing, social, etc.), therefore the proposed research will have broader impacts on other infrastructures. In addition, through courses, seminars, conferences, and summer programs for high school students and teachers, we shall reach out to students and professionals at various levels.