Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Amani, Farshad, Kargarian, Amin, Vaidyanathan, Ramachandran
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19146
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908863981158400
author Amani, Farshad
Kargarian, Amin
Vaidyanathan, Ramachandran
author_facet Amani, Farshad
Kargarian, Amin
Vaidyanathan, Ramachandran
contents This paper proposes a learning-based approach to accelerate the interior-point method (IPM) for solving optimal power flow (OPF) problems by learning the structure of the IPM central path from its early stable iterations. Unlike traditional learning models that attempt to predict the OPF solution directly, our approach learns the structure of the IPM trajectory itself, since even accurate predictions may not reliably reduce IPM iterations. The IPM follows a central path that iteratively progresses toward the optimal solution. While this trajectory encodes critical information about the optimization landscape, the later iterations become increasingly expensive due to ill-conditioned linear systems. Our analysis of the IPM central path reveals that its initial segments contain the most informative features for guiding the trajectory toward optimality. Leveraging this insight, we model the central path as a time series and use a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network to project the path using only the first few stable iterations. To ensure that the learned trajectory remains within the feasible region--especially near the optimal point--we introduce a grid-informed mechanism into the LSTM that enforces key operational constraints on generation, voltage magnitudes, and line flows. This framework, referred to as Learning-IPM (L-IPM), significantly reduces both the number of IPM iterations and overall solution time. To improve generalization, we use a sampling-based strategy to generate a diverse set of load conditions that effectively span the operational space. Simulation results across a range of test systems--including a 2869-bus European transmission network--demonstrate that L-IPM achieves up to a 94% reduction in solution time and an 85.5% reduction in iterations, without compromising feasibility or accuracy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_19146
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning Interior Point Method Central Path Projection for Optimal Power Flow
Amani, Farshad
Kargarian, Amin
Vaidyanathan, Ramachandran
Systems and Control
This paper proposes a learning-based approach to accelerate the interior-point method (IPM) for solving optimal power flow (OPF) problems by learning the structure of the IPM central path from its early stable iterations. Unlike traditional learning models that attempt to predict the OPF solution directly, our approach learns the structure of the IPM trajectory itself, since even accurate predictions may not reliably reduce IPM iterations. The IPM follows a central path that iteratively progresses toward the optimal solution. While this trajectory encodes critical information about the optimization landscape, the later iterations become increasingly expensive due to ill-conditioned linear systems. Our analysis of the IPM central path reveals that its initial segments contain the most informative features for guiding the trajectory toward optimality. Leveraging this insight, we model the central path as a time series and use a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network to project the path using only the first few stable iterations. To ensure that the learned trajectory remains within the feasible region--especially near the optimal point--we introduce a grid-informed mechanism into the LSTM that enforces key operational constraints on generation, voltage magnitudes, and line flows. This framework, referred to as Learning-IPM (L-IPM), significantly reduces both the number of IPM iterations and overall solution time. To improve generalization, we use a sampling-based strategy to generate a diverse set of load conditions that effectively span the operational space. Simulation results across a range of test systems--including a 2869-bus European transmission network--demonstrate that L-IPM achieves up to a 94% reduction in solution time and an 85.5% reduction in iterations, without compromising feasibility or accuracy.
title Learning Interior Point Method Central Path Projection for Optimal Power Flow
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19146