Load shedding strategies using optimal load flow with relaxation of restrictions

This paper proposes an optimization model to minimize the load curtailments necessary to restore the equilibrium of operating point with relaxation of restrictions. This model can be used for the operation planning of electrical power systems. The developed methodology minimizes the load cuts, limiting them to their importance and establishing different stages for them through the relaxation of the minimum limits of voltage and maximum limits of active power flows through the transformers. For instance, when an emergency occurs, if some operational limits are violated for a short period, fewer loads can be cut at a first stage than would be necessary if those violations would not be admitted. If the emergency does not cease, the remaining cuts necessary to recover the violations are made as a second stage of the strategy. On the other hand, if the contingency ceases, within this break, the system is recovered, and at this second stage, unnecessary cuts can be avoided, admitting only small breakings of operational restrictions. This methodology was tested at a system of 291 buses that is equivalent, in heavy load, to the electric network of the State of Parana in Brazil.