Spatial network decomposition for fast and scalable AC-OPF learning

This paper proposes a novel machine-learning approach for predicting AC-OPF solutions that features a fast and scalable training. It is motivated by the significant training time needed by existing machine-learning approaches for predicting AC-OPF. The proposed approach is a 2-stage methodology that exploits a spatial decomposition of the power network that is viewed as a set of regions. The first stage learns to predict the flows and voltages on the buses and lines coupling the regions, and the second stage trains, in parallel, the machine-learning models for each region. The predictions can then seed a power flow to eliminate the physical constraint violations, resulting in minor violations only for the operational bound constraints. Experimental results on the French transmission system (up to 6,700 buses) and large test cases from the pglib library (up to 9,000 buses) demonstrate the potential of the approach. Within a short training time, the approach predicts AC-OPF solutions with very high fidelity, producing significant improvements over the state-of-the-art. The proposed approach thus opens the possibility of training machine-learning models quickly to respond to changes in operating conditions.