MATPOWER 8.0b1 released

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What’s New in MATPOWER 8.0b1

Below are some of the highlights of the changes since version 7.1 of MATPOWER. See the full release notes and the CHANGES.md file for more details. For release notes for previous versions, see Appendix H of the MATPOWER User’s Manual.

Major Redesign

MATPOWER 8 introduces a major redesign and rewrite of all of the MATPOWER internals in the form of the flexible, all-new MATPOWER object-oriented core architecture (MP-Core) and new two user-level frameworks to access it. (Previously developed under the name MP-Element in a separate repository at https://github.com/MATPOWER/mp-element.)

  • MP-Core — Provides unparalleled flexibility and customization capabilities at all levels. Facilitates new modeling (e.g. unbalanced multiphase elements, FACTS devices, etc.), new controls (e.g. optimization of transformer taps, PAR angles, etc.), new problem formulations, and more.
  • Flexible Framework — Provides new top-level functions for running power flow (PF), continuation power flow (CPF) and optimal power flow (OPF), along with new MATPOWER Extension API for user access to the full customization capability of MP-Core.
  • Legacy Framework — Allows MP-Core modeling to be used internally by legacy functions, facilitating use of legacy test suite.

See the new MATPOWER Developer’s Manual and MATPOWER Technical Note 5 for details of the new architecture. The User’s Manual has not yet been updated for the flexible framework.

New Three-Phase and Hybrid Proof-of-Concept Examples

Prototype examples of PF, CPF, and OPF for:

  • unbalanced three-phase models
  • hybrid transmission (single-phase) / distribution (three-phase) models
  • multiple problem formulations

Note: These are proof-of-concept only, with much work remaining to define a full set of three-phase model elements and their respective parameters and data formats. But they do work!

New Features

  • MIPS 1.5 adds to mplinsolve() the ability to save an LU factorization and reuse it to solve for additional right-hand sides.
  • MP-Opt-Model 4.1 adds support for tracing solution curves of general parameterized nonlinear equations (PNE), providing generalized continuation power flow (CPF) capabilities to MP-Core.
  • MOST 1.2 adds calculation of expected temporal locational marginal price (TLMP), includes transitions into first period in ramping reserves, and more.
  • New options:
    • New AC power flow solver based on fsolve() function, selected by setting 'pf.alg' option to 'FSOLVE'.
    • New Implicit Z-bus Gauss method power flow for distribution systems, selected by setting pf.alg option to 'ZG'.
  • New functions/methods:
    • run_mp – Top-level function for running any task (PF, CPF, OPF) with the new MP-Core and flexible framework.
    • run_pf – Wrapper around run_mp for running PF.
    • run_cpf – Wrapper around run_mp for running CPF.
    • run_opf – Wrapper around run_mp for running OPF.

New Case Files

  • Two new European case files. Thanks to Florin Capitanescu.

New Documentation

Other Improvements

  • New MATPOWER Docker image (named matpower/matpower) is based on the official GNU Octave image (gnuoctave/octave) and is available for multiple MATPOWER and Octave versions.
  • Update versions of included packages:
    • MP-Test 8.0b1.
    • MIPS 1.5.
    • MP-Opt-Model 4.1
    • MOST 1.2.
  • Numerous bug fixes.

Incompatible Changes

  • Remove several deprecated functions, methods and options.