Factorisation Path Based Refactorisation for High-Performance LU Decomposition in Real-Time Power System Simulation

Energies, vol. 14, pp. 7989

Abstract

The integration of renewable energy sources into modern power systems requires simulations with smaller step sizes, larger network models and the incorporation of complex nonlinear component models. These features make it more difficult to meet computation time requirements in real-time simulations and have motivated the development of high-performance LU decomposition methods. Since nonlinear component models cause numerical variations in the system matrix between simulation steps, this paper places a particular focus on the recomputation of LU decomposition, i.e., on the refactorisation step. The main contribution is the adoption of a factorisation path algorithm for partial refactorisation, which takes into account that only a subset of matrix entries change their values. The approach is integrated into the modern LU decomposition method NICSLU and benchmarked against the methods SuperLU and KLU. A performance analysis was carried out considering benchmark as well as real power systems. The results show the significant speedup of refactorisation computation times in use cases involving system matrices of different sizes, a variety of sparsity patterns and different ratios of numerically varying matrix entries. Consequently, the presented high-performance LU decomposition method can assist in meeting computation time requirements in real-time simulations of modern power systems.

Authors 5

1. Jan Dinkelbach Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany

2. Lennart Schumacher Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IEK-10: Energy Systems Engineering, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany

3. Lukas Razik corresponding

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IEK-10: Energy Systems Engineering, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany

4. Andrea Benigni Aachen Chair of Methods for Simulating Energy Systems

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Methods for Simulating Energy Systems, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany

   IEK-10: Energy Systems Engineering, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany

5. Antonello Monti Aachen Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany