An Optimal Power Flow Tool for AC/DC Systems, Applied to the Analysis of the North Sea Grid for Offshore Wind Integration

Abstract

Interest in installing multi-terminal DC grids is growing worldwide due to their versatility in incorporating offshore wind and interconnecting asynchronous grids. In such cases, it is vital to run optimal power flows in the integrated hybrid AC/DC grids. Therefore,the objective of this work is to present Pyflow ACDC, a Python-based tool for the operational optimization of hybrid AC and DC grids, facilitating the interconnection of renewable energy developments.This tool enables the optimal flow analysis of multiple AC and DC grids within the same system. The DC grids can be tailored to the user's needs, including point-to-point systems and both homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-terminal DC configurations. A case study based on North Sea developments is used to exemplify the utilization of such tool. The analysis includes a full load analysis as well variable load and variable market price optimization.