Proceedings o f 1993 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks
A Practical Method Based on Structured Neural Ketworks to
Optimize Power System Operation
Kyoko SAKURAI Kazuo NISHIRilURA
TOSHIBA Corp.
Research & Development Center
System & Software Engineering Laboratory
70 Yanagi-cho Saiwai-ku Kawasaki-shi
Kanagawa 210 JAPAN
Abstract
This paper proposes a new method to optimize the
operation of a power transmission system, based on
a structured neural network. Because the structured
neural network is built by prewiring, the time to buiid
the network is very short. Simulations of transmis-
sion loss reduction have been carried out. It has been
shown that the optimization performance of the pro-
posed method is satisfactory in practice.
P Introduction
Optimization is very important in a veriety of en-
gineering fields. The operation of power generating
units in a power transmission system needs some opti-
mizations. The outputs of the power generating units
must be determined to realize some objectives such
as minimization of total fuel cost (ELD, Economic
Load Dispatching), minimization of transmission loss
reduction, maximization of stability, and so on. Be-
cause the optimizations often require human experts’
heuristics, some attempts to apply neural networks
to the optimizations have been reported. However,
those attempts are restricted to small scale power
systems because they require the neural networks of
very accurate input-output characteristics. The re-
quirement makes the learning of neural networks very
difficult in case of large power systems.
To overcome this problem, the authors proposed
in the previous study[l] an iterative use of a layered
neural network to compute the desirable direction of
generating unit output changes. The scheme permits
less accuracy of learning and, accordingly, it enables
the application of the scheme to large scale power
systems. However, because the neural network in the
scheme are built by Backpropagation (BP) algorithm,
its intrinsic problems remain. For example, BP algo-
rithm needs enormous learning time for a large neural
network. It is difficult for a neural network to learn
partially additional learning examples by BP algo-
rithm. As applications to actual power systems will
need large scales of learning and some learning ex-
amples will be constantly added through the daily
operations of the power systems, these problems can
451
Hideki HAYASHI
Fuchu Works
1 Toshi ba-cho Fuchu-shi
Tokyo 183 JAPAN
become the obstacles to the applications. So, the pro-
posed scheme based on IBP algorithm in the previous
study is still not practical.
This paper proposes a practical method to optimize
the power system operation based on the structured
neural network which has been proposed by the au-
thors in R,eferen,ce[2]. In the proposed method, the
neural network which w a s built by BP algorithm in
Reference[l] is replaced by a cascade connection of
the structured neural network to recognize the cur-
rent condition of a power system and a linear com-
putation network to compute the proper changes of
generating unit outputs. As our structured neural
network employs prewiring and the linear computa-
tion network is also built by prewiring, the time to
build the network is almost negligible and there is
no danger of divergence in learning. It is easy for
the network to learn additional examples. One prob-
lem of the proposed method is the low accuracy of the
neural network built in this manner. Fortunately, the
iterative use of at neural network in Reference[l] per-
mits the low accuracy ol’ the network. In this paper,
the effectiveness of the proposed method has been
demonstrated by simulations of transmission loss re-
duction. It has been shown that the proposed method
provides the acceptable level of optimization perfor-
mance while having very practical advantages such
as negligible building time.
2 Optimization of Power Gen-
erating Unit Outputs by
Layered Neural Network
Figure 1 shows the method to determine power gen-
erating unit outputs proposed in the previous study
[l]. The neural network is iteratively used in the com-
putation loop. in the i-th iteration (i = 1,2,. . .),
the neural network computes the desirable direction
of generating unit output changes { A p t ) } ( n =
1,2,. ..) for the given values of the generating unit
outputs { P f ’ } (n = 1 , 2 , ...) and the system loads
{Lm} ( m= 1 , 2 , . . .). The system loads are assumed
to be constant during the computation. As { A p t ) }
include errors depending on degree of learning, { P i ' }
are updated by the refrained increments {CAP?)} as
follows:
Pi+') = P:) + E A P $ ) (0 < E < 1.0) (1)
The neural network receives this updated outputs
{P:)}, and the direction vector {AP?"'} is com-
puted. The same process is iterated until the direc-
tion vector {AP,,} becomes very small. The final
updated outputs {P,} are employed to change the
unit out puts.
The proposed method has been applied to the small
scale power system model shown in Fig. 2. It consists
of 3 machines and 3 system loads. Transmission loss
reduction has been employed as an objective of opti-
mization. The 3-layer neural network has learnt 35
training patterns by B P algorithm. The instruction
of the 35 patterns is counted as one learning trial.
Figure 3 shows the simulation result of transmission
loss reduction by the trained neural network. The ini-
tial state of generating unit outputs are not included
in the training patterns. The network leads to sub-
stantial loss reductions not only when fully trained
(2500 trials) but also when trained poorly (500 and
250 trials). Even the very poor learning (100 trials)
results in a certain amount of loss reduction. This
result suggests that the learning accuracy is not so
critical in the proposed method. Because of the loose
requirement for learning, this method is applicable to
a larger power system model [l].
3 Structured Neural Networks
Figure 4 shows the structured neural network prc+
posed in Reference [2]. This network is free from the
problems of B P algorithm. The structured network
consists of an input layer, a receptive layer, an asso-
ciative layer, logic units, and a feedback mechanism.
The input layer merely serves as the input terminal
here. The input pattern is classified into some sub-
patterns. The receptive layer consists of some recep-
tive strips corresponding to these subpatterns. Figure
4 shows the case of four receptive strips. Each strip
is activated selectively by the corresponding subpat-
tern. The contribution of each subpattern to the final
outputs from the output layer can be controlled by
the feedback mechanism and this function is benefi-
cial in the application in Reference[2]. However, the
feedback mechanism is not used in this study because
its advantage is not expected in the application in
this study. The input pattern is divided into {P,,}
and {Lm} here, but this division has substantially
means nothing without a feedback mechanism. The
associative layer integrates the outputs of the recep-
tive layer. Each unit in this layer corresponds to a
portion (receptor) of a receptive strip. At present,
the output of the unit is the maximum of the units
in a receptor. The logic units consists of output units
452
and those which mix the information on the associa-
tive layer. The units for information mixing consists
of AND-type and OR-type units although they are
not AND and OR in a strict sense.
This structured neural network is automatically
built according to the given input-output example
patterns. The roles of the units, layers, and connec-
tions are predetermined. Because of the prewiring,
the time to build this network is almost negligible
compared to that for BP learning. As new receptors
can be created additionally, addition of input-output
example patterns is very easy. Lack of flexibility
by hard wiring is compensated by introducing a few
parameters and their control by a feedback mecha-
nism. According to the results shown in Reference[2],
the structured network provides a recognition perfor-
mance which has a close similarity to that by a human
expert when the feedback mechanism is introduced.
It has been also shown that the network has a com-
paratively good interpolation ability even without a
feedback mechanism when some parameters are prop-
erly determined.'
4 Optimization of Power Gen-
erating Unit Outputs by
Structured Neural Network
Figure 5 shows the proposed method based on the
structured neural network. The input pattern con-
sists of power generating unit outputs and system
loads, each of which is regarded as a subpattern.
As mentioned above, this division has no substantial
meaning. Transmission loss reduction is simulated on
the power system model shown in Fig. 2 and the same
35 example patterns are used. The structured neural
network is used to categorize an input pattern into
the 35 example patterns; that is, an output of the
structured network corresponds to an example pat-
tern and indicates the degree of similarity of the input
pattern to the example pattern. The number of the
outputs is then 35 in this investigation. The outputs
( 0 1 , . . ., 0 3 5 ) of the structured neural network are
multiplied by the matrix whose components are the
desired outputs data of the given input-output exam-
ples. The desirable direction of generating unit out-
put changes are computed in this manner, although
this computation seems to be low in accuracy. As
the matrix calculation can be represented by a linear
network, it is possible to represent the total computa-
tion by a single network which supersedes the %layer
BP network in the previous study.
Figure 6 shows the simulation results of transmis-
sion loss reduction with the selective activation co-
efficient d,,) as a parameter. This coefficient modi-
fies the sensitivity of activation of the receptive layer.
When this coefficient is larger, the activation becomes
easier and interpolation ability becomes stronger.
The adjustment coefficient E is 0.4 throughout the
simulations. The figure shows a remarkable reduc-
tion of transmission loss when the coefficient dn) is
properly selected. The transmission loss shows the
minimum within five iterations when dn) is 0.5 or
more. The larger c(”) results in the faster reduction rum on Appllication of Neural Networks to Power
of transmission loss, but a loss increase from the min- Systems, Yokohama., pp.104-107, April 1993.
imum becomes more remarkable because the larger
dn)aggravates sharpness of pattern recognition. This [2] K. Nishimura and M. Arai, “Power System
phenomena will be overcome in practice by detecting State Evaluation by Structured Neural Net-
the sudden decrease in the length of the vector {AP,,} work”, IJCN ”90, San Diego, 1-271 - 1-277, June
1990.
for the termination of iteration.
Figure 7 shows the simulation results of transmis-
sion loss reduction with the adjustment coefficient t
as a parameter. The selective activation coefficient
c(“) is fixed as 0.5. The excessively large value (0.6)
makes the loss reduction curve oscillatory, but the i
moderate values (0.2 and 0.4) give stable reduction

El
curves. i
I
The transmission losses minimized by the proposed Network
method are obtained for two unknown input patterns,
and they are O.O63[pu] and O.O73[pu]. They are in !

1
good agreement with those obtained by a number of
load flow computations. The 35 input-output exam-
ples are almost ideal in this study. In other words,
they are consistent. They are made carefully based
on some load flow computations. The result suggests
that the proposed method based on the structured
neural network is comparable to the exact solution
so long as the consistent example patterns are ob-
tainable. When it is not easy to prepare consistent Power System
example data, we must make the examples by intu- L1
ition. Although the effectiveness of the examples by
intuition is not investigated in this study, the pre-
vious study[l] has shown that the examples by intu- ......
ition can be effective on a realistic scale power system RI P4
model.
The comparison of Figs. 3 and 6 indicates that
the method based on the structured neural network Figure 1: Determination of Generating Unit Outputs
is a little inferior t o that based on the BP net-
work in terms of optimization performance but is by Layered Neural Network
still satisfactory in practice. The proposed method
provides the acceptable level of optimization perfor-
mance while having very practical advantages such
as negligible building time.

5 Conclusion
A new method based on the structured neural net-
work to optimize the operation of power generating
units has been proposed. Transmission loss reduc-
tions have been simulated to demonstrate the effec-
tiveness of the proposed method and the results have
been compared to those of the 3-layer BP network.
Although the method based on the structured neural
network gives a little lower performance for optimiza-
tion compared t o that based on the BP network, the
other advantage such as negligible building time, easy
addition of training examples, and immunity from
divergence of learning makes the proposed method
highly practical.

References
[l] K. Nishimura, H. Iida, H. Hayashi, T. Asano,
“Application of Neural Network to Operation of Figure 2: Small Scale Power System Model
Power Generating Units”, 2nd International Fo-

453
 Inputs fed
Output Units from loaic
Logic
Unite

Associative
Layer

Q O O O O O U 95m - I \
\ ',
Receptive
Layer

Input
receptor 6-
Iterations
Layer 0 2 1 6 8 1 0
...... 0
group 1 Figure 7: Transmission Loss Reduction by Proposed
Method (for different adjustment coefficients)
Figure 4: Structured Neural Network

Figure 5: Determination of Generating Unit Outputs

by Structured Neural Network

454