IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-100, No.
5, May 1981 2683
A BRANCH AND BOUND MODEL
FOR CHOOSING OPTIMAL SUBSTATION LOCATIONS
G.L. Thompson
Graduate School of Ind. Admin.
Carnegie-Mellon Univ.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Abstract A distribution planning model is formulated which
- 2.0 THE ELECTRICAL MODEL AND DATA INPUT
considers existing and potential substation locations,their capacities
and costs, together with the primary feeder network represented by
small area demand locations to represent non-uniform loads, and
feeder segments having variable distribution costs and limited
capacities. A branch and bound search method is described which
utilizes a shortest path table to obtain lower bounds and solutions
from a transshipment linear programming model for upper bounds.
The solution of a small example is presented in detail, and computa-
tional results for several larger problems are summarized.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The optimal location of substations to meet electrical power
demands in an urban area can have a very strong effect on current
and future operating costs. In our previous paper [ 1 ] we presented
a primary feeder model which could be quickly solved with a fast
upper bounded transshipment code for problems having 1000
demand locations and 100 substations.
Because of our success with the primary feeder model we
have extended our work and have developed a branch and bound
algorithm for choosing the optimal locations for substations.
Ordinary linear programming methods are not adequate for
solving this problem since the fixed costs (insurance, taxes,
depreciation, return on investment, maintenance, etc.) associated
with operating a substation are significant and cannot be ignored
or linearized. Instead the problem must be treated as a fixed charge
problem of mathematical programming.
A good general reference for fixed charge problems is [2]
by Ellwein and Gray. Other references relating to the substation
location problems are [3,4,5].
A fixed charge problem can be formulated as a mixed integer
problem and solved by one of the mixed integer software packages
supplied by various software and computer companies. However
the running times for such general purpose codes are likely to be
rather long.
For that reason and because of the special structure of the
problem, we have developed a branch and bound search method,
which solves a series of transshipment subproblems using an
efficient code, to find the optimum substation locations.
Section 2.0 describes the electrical model while Section 3.0
gives the mathematical model. Section 4.0 gives a detailed descrip-
tion of the branch and bound search procedure. A simple example
illustrating this search method is described in detail in Section 5.0.
Finally, computational experience on a number of test problems is
given in Section 6.0.
This work has been made possible by funding from the
Electric Power Research Institute (Contract RP-570-1) to which
the authors wish to extend their gratitude.
F 80 158-6 A paper recommended and approved by the
IEEE Power System Engineering Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE PES
Winter Meeting, New York, NY, February 3-8, 1980.
Manuscript submitted February 2, 1979; made available
for printing October 22, 1979.
C) 1981 IEEE
D.L. Wall - Member
Advanced Systems Technology
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
East Pittsburgh, Pa.
This paper builds on our previous paper which used a trans-
shipment code to solve a primary feeder model. The present model
makes the same assumptions concerning the feeder network as were
made in the previous model, namely:
a) The total demand for electrical power in a small area
(say, a quarter square mile) is represented by a single
demand location.
b) The feeder network is described by giving pairs of
demand locations and the actual or potential types of
lines that are or can be installed in that line segment.
c) The cost of sending power on a line segment is
approxiimated by a linear function.
In addition, within the location model two types of sub-
stations are considered, existing and potential. Data for each of
them are given as follows:
d) An existing substation is represented as a power source
which can supply power at a given unit variable cost
up to a prescribed upper bound. Although such existing
substations have fixed costs associated with their
operation, they are "sunk costs" since they cannot be
altered by the current decisions, and hence are not
included in the optimization model. Instead they must
be handled outside the process.
e) The user specifies potential sites for location of sub-
stations which the model chooses to be either open or
closed. If a substation is open it can supply power as
needed to the distribution circuit at a given variable
unit cost up to its upper capacity limit. Also a fixed
charge is added to represent costs such as insurance,
taxes, added transmission lines to serve the site etc.
incurred when a station is opened. If the station is
closed then it cannot supply power and no charges are
assigned to it.
As in [ 1 ], the distribution model is completed by specifying
for each feeder segment in the distribution network two numbers;
the first is the maximum power that can be safely carried by the
feeder segment; the second is a cost of power losses for the given
line type.
3.0 THE MATHEMATICAL FIXED CHARGE MODEL
For this discussion graph shall mean a set of nodes and
a
arcs, ,where an arc can be thought of as a directed line segment
connecting two of the nodes. We can construct a graph model of
an electrical distribution system by treating the sources and uses
of power as nodes of the graph, and the feeder segments connecting
them as arcs. Nodes which both receive power from and send power
to other nodes are called transshipment nodes. For simplicity we
treat all nodes as transshipment nodes, since in any solution
context, it will be clear which nodes only transmit power (the
substations), those which both receive and transmit power (trans-
shipment nodes), and those which only receive power (end nodes).
In the graph there is one special source node, labeled node s, which
represents the fictitious source of all power consumed by the
distribution system. Each substation is connected to node s by
an arc; this arc has an upper bound of 0 if the substation is closed,
or an upper bound equal to its maximum capacity if it is open.
In order to set up the model, the following notation is
introduced:
2684
s = fictitious source node actual decisions possible at the vertex. Examples are shown in
I = f1, . . m I U { s I = source nodes (substations)
.
Section 5.0. For each branch a lower bound on the cost of the
decision emanating along that branch is calculated; if that lower
J = 1, . . n I = demand nodes (locations)
.

bound is greater than the actual cost of the best feasible solution
N = IUJ so far found, then it is not necessary to actually search the decision
a, = supply of power at node i for i e N alternative given by that branch or any decision subsequent to it.
b = demand for power at node j for j e N
unit "cost" of sending power from node i to node j For a branch and bound method to be successful in solving
cii =
large problems, it is necessary that the bounding method be
where i, j e N sufficiently good to eliminate most of the potential branches on
x,1 = amount of power actually sent from i to j, where the search tree. Otherwise, the tree will grow to be so large that
i, j eN excessive computer time will be required. Fortunately, the two
U = upper bound power flow from node i to node j, bounding methods to be described next have proved in practice
to be quite effective in reducing the amount of search to a
where i, j eN computationally feasible level for the model considered here.
F,, = fixed charge if substation i is opened
0 if substation i is closed, i I c 4.1 Minimum Incremental Cost Bound
yis = To calculate the minimum incremental cost (cost associated
1 if substation i is open, i e I with the feeder network), we set the capacity of all substations
(actual or potential) to maximum capacity and solve the transporta-
There are two special conditions the c 's satisfy. First, tion problem (1 ) - (4) with all Fs, = 0. The answer gives the smallest
variable cost way of meeting power demands.
C11 = 0 for all i e N,
Given any set of potential substations which it is proposed
that is, the "cost" of retaining excess power at node i is zero to open, a lower bound on the cost of providing power demands
for all i. Correspondingly, the variable x11 should be interpreted as using the existing substations together with this set of potential
a slack variable. Second, if there is no arc connecting nodes i and j substations can quickly be calculated as the sum of the fixed costs
then ci, = 00. In fact, such infinite costs are never entered as data. of the potential substations plus the minimum incremental cost.

The mathematical form of the fixed charge transshipment 4.2 Shortest Path Customer Assignment
model can now be stated as: To calculate a lower bound on the cost of serving a customer
if only one of the potential substations, say substation s,, is open
Minimize N 2; c x ++ IYisFfs (1) we solve the transshipment problem (1) -(4) with (a) all existing
lEN leN J
stations open at infinite capacity, (b)- substation s, open with
infinite capacity, (c) all fixed charges set to 0, and (d) all feeder
Subjectto E x =a1+Kfor6rieN (2) segment upper bounds set to + oo. Then the linear programming
dual variables for each demand location are obtained from the
corresponding optimal linear programming solution. These dual
X =bj+KforjeN (3) variables represent the marginal cost of supplying one more unit of
power to the corresponding demand locations in this station
configuration; they are lower bounds on the marginal cost of
0 xU S U1j for is j c N, j 0 s (4) supplying an extra unit of power in any more constrained situa-
tion. Suppose now we have potential substations s1, s 2 . e 'Sk all
.

O < x 6 ysU,, for i e I (5)

Yis = or 1 forieI
where K is a number larger than the sum of the supplies and the
sum of the demands, see [ 1 Note that (5) and (6) together mean
.
that substation i is open with capacity U1, if Ys= 1, and closed
if y1, =
0.
In a formal sense, the problem posed in (1) -(6) is what is
called a mixed integer programming problem. It could be solved by
a commercial mixed integer code.
Note that if each of the y. 's is fixed at either 0 or 1, the
problem represented by (1) (45 is an ordinary transshipment
-
problem. As noted in [ 11, the time to solve such problems is small.
Because of this fact, a special branch and bound program has been
developed by us to solve the substation location problem by a tree
search procedure. This procedure solves a series of transshipment
problems as sub-problems whose answers are needed to make
decisions during the tree search. This branch and bound program
is described in the next section.
4.0 THE BRANCH AND BOUND ALGORITHM
The branch and bound search tree is a graph consisting of
vertices representing decision points, and branches opening out
from each vertex. Each branch from a vertex represents one of the
open simultaneously. Then a lower bound on the cost of supplying
power to a certain demand location can be obtained by calculating
the smallest of the lower bounds of serving that demand location
when each of the substations s1, 52 Sk is open separately. This
(6)
will be referred to as the shortest path variable cost for that demand
location.
4.3 The Branch and Bound Substation Location Algorithm
In stating the actual algorithm used we make use of the
following notation:
Sk = list of substations already opened
Fk = list of free substations, one of which will be opened at
the next step
WLB(Sk) = the weak lower bound on the distribution cost
if the potential substations in Sk are all opened
= the sum of the fixed costs for Sk in Sk plus the
total shortest path variable costs if all substa-
tions S are opened
BC = best feasible cost found so far, for any assignment of
substations to be opened.
We now state the steps of the algorithm:
(0) Construct the shortest path table; find the minimum
incremental cost; set k = 1; BC = 00; S0 = 0; close down
all potential substations.
 2685
(1) (Forward step.) Construct the list Fk of currently
free substations which can be opened next; evaluate
the weak lower bounds if all the substations in Sk-i
together with each substation in F,k are opened; order
the substations in Fk in order of increasing weak lower
bounds.
(2) If Fk is empty go to (3). Else go to (4).
(3) (Backtracking step.) k = k 1. If k > 0 go to (2). Else
-

go to (10).
(4) (Branching step.) Let s* be the first element of Fk (the
one having the smallest weak lower bound); set
Sk Sk
= U {s* and Fk FFSk 1
(5) (Bounding step.) If Sk has enough station capacity
for a feasible solution, and WLB(Sk) < BC, go to (7).
Else go to (6).
(6) k = k+ l.Goto (l).
(7) Solve the transshipment problem defined by opening
all substations in Sk .
(8) If the new solution has lower cost than the best
solution so far found, save it and update BC.
(9) If the new solution variable cost minus the minimum
incremental cost is less than the smallest fixed cost
of any station in Fk, go to (3). Else go to (6).
(10) Stop. The lowest cost feasible solution found is
optimal.
266ASCR 2/OC
266A 2C
5.0 SAMPLE PROBLEM 3/OA 4C

Figure 1
In order to clarify the branch and bound process, suppose we
consider a small sample problem. The sample problem is taken
from 1 ] and consists of 41 demand points and 3 potential station Table I Substation Data
locations from which to choose. The diagram in Figure illustrates
the layout of the' feeder network and ea'ch potential'station loca- Station No. Capacity Cost
tion. The capacities and costs of the potential'stations are indicated (KVA) ($1000)
in Table 1. 1 Maryvale 4 41,900 1,205
2 Christy 34 20,970 475
The branch and bound process begins by first calculating the 3 Cartwright 22 39,700 1,200
minimum variable cost of the feeder network configuration
assuming all possible stations are in service. This network variable The number above each vertex is the value of the WLB for
cost is a lower bound on the variable cost associated with any
combination of station locations. Of course, if this first problem system configuration represented by the vertex. A solid branch
has no feasible solution then there is no feasible solution for the indicates that the station has been selected from the set of free
location problem and the algorithm is terminated. stations and an arrow pointing to the right along the tree indicates
a station is opened in the solution while an arrow pointing to the
For the sample problem, the lower bound on the network left indicates that the station is closed in the solution. A dotted
variable cost is 515. The algorithm next calculates a shortest path line indicates that the station is a free station which will have to be
table used in calculating weak lower bounds (WLB). considered later.

Recall that the branch and bound process consists of 1387

systematically assigning potential stations open in the solution
or closed in the solution. The stations are selected from a set of 1
"free" stations which are yet to be assigned. As the search process 2
progresses the set of free stations is exhausted at which time the
search process terminates. 2214
Initially the set of free stations consists of all three potential
stations. In order to choose a station to open in the solution, the
WLB's are calculated which are estimates of the system cost for
opening each station in the solution. The station which has the
2356
lowest weak lower bound is then opened in the solution.
In order to illustrate the progress of the algorithm a branch
and bound tree is introduced. The diagram opposite is a branch and At this point in the branch and bound process there is
bound tree which illustrates the current progress of the algorithm. inadequate station capacity fixed in to the solution to serve the
The lefthand vertex is the starting vertex and each branch (line) total system load 'of 72,484 KVA. Therefore, the branching
emanating to the right represents a station being fixed into the continues from vertex 1 as shown in the left hand column at the
solution. The number above each branch indicates the potential top of the next page.
station number that was fixed into the solution. The number
inside each vertex indicates the order in which the branch and
bound tree is evaluated.
2686

1
1

At vertex 6 there is sufficient station capacity and the WLB

is below our current minimum and so the linear program is updated
At vertex 2 there is still insufficient capacity to serve the to reflect the change in system configuration and resolved. The new
system load and so again additional branching occurs from vertex system cost is found to be 3262 which now becomes our current
2 as follows: minimum, CB.
3378 The process now backtracks to vertex 0 and opens the one
2324 remaining free station, station 1.
1 3378
__ 3 2370
2 0etfmt 1
2214

4%1
_I, 2356
The system configuration at vertex 3 has adequate capacity
to meet the system load and so the full capacitated linear program
formulation of the system is solved and the actual total cost is
enclosed with the box in the above diagram (note that the cost of
the configuration is quite close to the WLB estimate). This cost
(3395) now forms the current minimum CB for the location
problems.
At this point station 3 is taken out of the solution by "back-
tracking" to vertex 2 which has no free stations remaining, and so
again we backtrack to vertex 1. The one remaining free station at
vertex 1 has inadequate capacity to meet the system load and so
we again backtrack to vertex 0. At vertex 0 we select from the
remaining free stations to bring into the solution. Station 3 is
selected and the branch and bound search tree appears below.
3378
2324
1387
4%
[32621
At vertex 7 there is insufficient capacity with no more
free stations available and thus we backtrack to vertex 0 where
the branch and bound search process terminates because the set of
free stations is exhausted.
The optimal solution is represented by vertex 6 and the
minimum cost is 3262 for the sample problem, which is obtained
by opening substation 1 and 3.
6.0 OUTPUT AND COMPUTATIONAL RESULTS
The results obtained from solving this model are the optimal
new substation locations together with essentially the same
information as that is obtained from solving our previous model
[1]. Tabular output summaries by demand location, station and
total system are given of power flows, costs of losses, capital cost
of feeders and stations, and finally voltage drop in percent. All
new stations used are indicated with an asterisk in the output.
A printer plot of the existing station and new station service areas
is provided along with a graphical display of the feeder network
associated with the optimal solution. The printer plot indicates
the center of load of each station service area which is useful in
deciding on new potential station locations.
The computational results for the problems attempted so far

%.
2356 are summarized in Table II and are quite promising.

The software developed for EPRI contract RP-570-1 was

written in standard FORTRAN so that it is available for use by any
At vertex 5 there is again insufficient capacity to serve the member utility.
system load and thus the only branch from vertex 5 is generated
by opening station 1.
 2687
Table II Computational Results Douglas L. Wall (M'71) was born in Erie, Penn-
sylvania, November 26, 1949. He received a
Potential Nodes Lines No. Seardc No. Full Optimization BSEE degree from Case Western Reserve
Sites Vertices LU Solutions Time University in 1971, and a MSEE degree from the
3 41 61 1
University of Pittsburgh in 1975.
7 .55 He joined Westinghouse in 1971 in Advanc-
6 840 1414 7 1 1.40 ed Systems Technology working in the
10 840 1414 10 9 3.80 Transmission Planning Group. He later worked
30 41 61 466 1 1.91 in the Generation Planning Group where he was
Optimzation times are measured in CPU seconds on a CDC 7600 computer. involved with generation studies and optimiza-
tion models applied to long-range generation
system planning. He next became involved in the Distribution Group of
7.0 CONCLUSION AST where he was primarily responsible for the development and
maintenance of extensive computer programs for use in distribution
A branch and bound search algorithm for choosing the system planning.
optimal locations of substations was described, which recognizes Currently he is involved with and EPRI research contract to
both the nonuniform distribution of load and primary feeder develop an overall set of planning models for distribution systems. He is
network. The search process was expedited by using weak lower pursuing a Ph.D. at Carnegie-Mellon University where he is studying
bounds calculated from a shortest path table and minimum feeder the application of optimization techniques for computer aided distribu-
network cost, along with upper bounds obtained from the solu- tion system design.
tions of the transshipment model. The size of the search tree is Mr. Wall coauthored technical papers on distribution planning. He
highly problem dependent which is also true of most such is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, IEEE Power Society, Software
problems. However, the computational experience with realistic Engineering Society, and Operation Research Society of America. He is
sized problems was encouraging. a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania.
This model is not intended to be used by itself but
rather to augment existing transmission planning models.
This model provides the critical interface of existing and
potential station sites and their loads to the transmission
planning model.
Gerald L. Thompson was born in Rolfe, Iowa,
REFERENCES on November 25, 1923. He received his BS
degree in electrical engineering from Iowa State
[1] D.L. Wall, G.L. Thompson, and J.E.D. Northcote-Green, University, Ames, his S. M. degree in
"An Optimization Model for Planning Radial Distribution mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of
Networks," IEEE Transactions on PAS, presented at the Technology, Cambridge, and his Ph.D. degree
1978 Summer Meeting. in mathematics from the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1944, 1948, and 1953,
[2] L.B. Ellwein, and P. Gray, "Solving Fixed Charge Problems respectively.
with Capacity and Configuration Constraints," AIIE He has taught at the University of Michigan
Transactions, III (1971) pp. 290-298. (1948-51), Princeton University (1951-53),
Dartmouth College (1953-58), Ohio Wesleyan University (1958-59) and
[3] R.N. Adams and M.A. Laughton, "Optimal Planning of Carnegie-Mellon University (1959- )where he is currently a Professor of
Power Networks Using Mixed-Integer Programming," Proc. Applied Mathematics and Industrial Administration. He is the author
IEE, Vol. 121,No.2,pp. 139-148,Feb. 1974. and co-author of 11 books and numerous papers in mathematics,
operations research, mathematical economics, and other topics.
[4] E. Masud, "An Interactive Procedure for Sizing and Timing He is a member of the American Mathematical Society,
Distribution Substations Using Optimization Techniques," Mathematics Association of America, Society for Industrial and Ap-
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, pp. plied Mathematics, the Operations Research Society of America, and
1281-1286, Sept. 1974. the Institute of Management Sciences.
[5] D.M. Crawford and S.B. Holt, Jr., "A Mathematical
Optimization.Technique for Locating and Sizing Distribu-
tion Substations, and Deriving Their Optimal Service Areas,"
IEEE Transactions on PAS, pp. 230-235, Mar. 1975.
 2688
Discussion L. L. Garver, A. E. Miscally, and P. R. Van Horne, (General Electric
Company, Schenectacy, NY): The authors have prepared an under-
D. I. Sun, R. R. Shoults, and M. S. Chen (The University of Texas at standable description of the branch and bound method applied to siting
Arlington, Arlington, TX): The discussors commend the authors on sub-transmission substations. We have found the capacitated-primal-
presenting an interesting and timely paper. The identification of simplex-transshipment method, similar to the work of Fred Glover and
separate fixed and variable cost components in a substation offers Darwin Klingman, (1) is very useful in solving bulk-power substation
significant improvement in system planning model accuracy. We agree location problems'2'. Were methods such as these used when preparing
with the authors' choice of the branch-and-bound technique for solving the upper-bounded-transshipment code for this present discussion?
fixed charge transshipment problems. Based on our experience in a
similar research project with the Public Service Company of New
Mexico, we do have the following comments and equations. REFERENCES
1. In order to reach the desired level of accuracy, if it has been
necessary to model the fixed and linear cost of a substation, what were, (1) Fred Glover and Darwin Klingman, "Network Applications in In-
the cost data used by the authors to justify the modeling of circuit dustry and Government", AIIE Trans., Vol. 9, pp. 363-376,
segments as consisting of no fixed charge component? As pointed out in December 1977.
[l], linear approximation is rather good for secondary circuit segments (2) Len L. Garver, "Transmission Network Estimation Using Linear
(415 volts), however, we feel that for the long range planning case Programming", IEEE Trans., Vol. PAS-89, pp. 1688-1697,
presented here, it is the primary system rather than the secondary Sept./Oct. 1970.
system that is being modeled. As a reference, we would like to present
the following cost data Manuscript received March 4, 1980.
Substation Three Phase Circuit Segment
(25MVA, 75% peak loading (394 MCM O/H, 50% peak loading,
LF= 0.6) LF= 0.5) G. L. Thompson and D. L. Wall: The authors wish to thank the
Fixed Cost $362,000 $24,000/mile discussants for the comments.
Variable Cost $127,000 $39,000/mile In Response to comments by Professors Sun, Shoults, and Chen, the
2. Based on the above data, we feel that the fixed charges associated answers to your four points appear below:
with circuit segments should be modeled explicitly where possible. Of I. The cost data for the large problem presented in this paper
course, this complicates the optimizing process considerably, primarily (assuming one year's growth) indicates that the total annualized
as a result of the increased number of fixed charge variables. Using a cost for all new feeder segments was $34,600 versus the total an-
modified version of the original fixed-charge-network-analysis program nual cost of losses for all feeders which was $792,600. This sug-
provided by Professor Rardin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, gests that our straight approximation is adequate for the load
we were able to obtain satisfactory results when tests were performed on levels in the actual solution. We agree that for very lightly loaded
an actual system (area) with approximately 180 fixed charge variables. feeder segments the approximation is poor, but there weren't any
However, assuming that the ratio of the total fixed cost to total variable such segments in the solution found. In general, the annual
cost remains constant, we expect the branch-and-bound technique to levelized cost for new feeders in a substation was much less than
encounter great difficulty if order of magnitude increases were made on one sixth the cost of losses for all feeders served by the station.
the number of fixed charge variables. We are very interested in knowing 2. Of course it would be wise to include fixed charges on the circuit
the authors' experiences in solving cases with larger number fixed segments if it does not make the resulting codes run too slowly. The
charge components. paper by Rardin and Unger, which is their reference [2], reports on net-
3. The application of shortest path variable cost to WLB for "boun- works with up to 66 nodes, and 317 arcs, of which 100 are fixed charge
ding" the enumberated tree is novel, however, we do have some reser- arcs. Solution times were from 1 - 10 minutes. The general experience
vation about using it for the "branching and selection" process. Our with fixed charge arcs is that the total nurnber that can be taken into ac-
main concern is that it does not reveal the progress of the optimization count is about 150-200 in order to obtain codes having reasonable runn-
process; until the final optimum solution is reached, one has no infor- ing times. For that reason only the most important fixed charges should
mation on how far the current solution is from the theoretical lower be included. Of course, future research can improve the performance of
bound. Numerous computationally feasible branch-and-bound schemes these codes and will eventually permit larger problems and more fixed
[2], [3] have been published where such information is available. charges to be considered.
4. In the computation of shortest path variable cost, why were all the 3. We used the shortest path bounds, because they were easy to
existing substations set at infinite capacity? Is it not possible that a compute and were very effective. We had no difficulty in obtain-
stronger lower bound may be obtained if these substations were set at ing the optimal solution with their use.
their normal maximum capacity? 4. All existing substations were set at infinite capacity in the com-
putation of shortest paths, because, otherwise, decisions would
have to be made concerning the allocation of demand centers to
REFERENCES substations, and this would interfere with the shortest path
calculations. It is always possible that other stronger bounds
[1] Discussion by R. N. Adams to ref. [1] of the paper. could be developed; however, one must weigh the computational
[21 R. L. Rardin and V. E. Unger, "Solving Fixed Charge Network cost of obtaining them against any additional benefit they might
Problems With Group Theory-Based Penalties", Naval Research yield.
Logistics Quarterly 23 (1976) pp. 67-84. In response to Dr. Garver and Messrs. Miscally and Van Horne, we
[3] J. Kennington, "The Fixed Charge Transportation Problems: A remark that the upper-bounded transshipment transportation code and
Computation Study with a Branch-and-Bound Code", AIIE Tran- the capacitated primal transshipmnent simplex code are equivalent. Of
sactions, June 1976, pp. 241-247. course, these codes are strictly applicable only to radial transmission
circuits. Any use for such applications as bulk-power problems should
Manuscript received February 29, 1980. be made with extreme care since the non-linearities of power flows in
general circuits must be taken into account. Neither of the trans-
shipment codes referred to can do this directly.
Manuscript received January 16, 1981.