I have not really used MATPOWER's OPF for distribution systems, but here are my thoughts on a number of the solvers for transmission networks.
MINOPF - very fast and very reliable on small systems ~ 100 buses or less (limited to 32-bit Matlab versions) MIPS - reasonably fast even on very large systems, not always reliable (pure Matlab, no MEX) fmincon - usually slower than MIPS, but sometimes more reliable TSPOPF - same as MIPS, very slightly faster IPOPT - similar to MIPS, probably more reliable, occasionally faster on very large systems (1000's of buses) KNITRO - very fast and robust, including on large models SCPDIPM, MIPS-sc - similar to TSPOPF and MIPS, but will sometimes solve problems not solved by them TRALM - slower and not necessarily and probably less reliable than MIPS, doesn't scale as well as interior point solvers So, it depends what you have available. MIPS is always available and is usually a pretty good choice unless you are running into numerical reliability problems. While I have less experience with it, KNITRO seems to be a very good solver. If you have multiple options, it is often a good idea to simply test the various solvers on your problem. I typically use MINOPF for the best results on small problems (~100 buses or less) and MIPS or TSPOPF on larger problems unless they have reliability problems, in which case I try out other options. -- Ray Zimmerman Senior Research Associate 419A Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 phone: (607) 255-9645 On Feb 13, 2012, at 12:12 PM, Roberto Carvalini wrote: > Dear Ray, > > For a large distribution system such as 113 bus test system, in order to do > an OPF or a runmarket, could you please let us know which solvers are better, > i.e. KNITRO, SCPDIPM, MIPS? > > Regards > > Roberto >
