| The present distribution system is gradually trending towards a smart grid paradigm with massive development of distributed energy resources (DER), advanced power electronics interfaces, and a digitalized communication platform. Such profound changes bring challenges as well as opportunities for an entity like the distribution network operator (DNO) to optimally operate DERs and other controllable elements to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency, economic benefits, supply reliability and power quality.;The major contribution of this dissertation is in the development of a generalized three-phase optimal power flow (OPF) program in a novel control scheme for future distribution system optimization and economic operation. It is developed based on primal-dual interior point method (PDIPM). The program is general enough to model comprehensive system components and topologies. The program can also be customized by user-defined cost functions, system constraints, and new device, such as solid state transformers (SST). An energy storage optimal control using dynamic programming is also proposed to coordinate with the OPF based on a pricing signal called the distribution locational marginal price (DLMP). The proposed OPF program can be used by the DNO in an open access competitive control scheme to optimally aggregate the energy mix by combining the profitability of each resource while satisfying system security constraints. |
