News

March 1, 2019

Missed any of the ARPA-E GO Competition webinars?

You can view the webinar recording on YouTube and download the webinar slides:

Webinar #1 (recording, slides)
Webinar #2 (recording, slides)
Webinar #3 (recording, slides)

February 21, 2019

A webinar with the topic "Platform Interaction and Entry Submission" was held at 12:00 ET. The webinar recording is available on YouTube.  The webinar slides are available for download.

February 4, 2019

A webinar with the topic "Challenge 1 Overview and Registration" was held at 12:00 pm ET. The webinar recording is available on YouTube. The webinar slides are available for download. Additional information may be found on the Registration page.

 

November 1, 2018

The ARPA-E GO Competition Challenge 1 begins. Download the official Timeline Document.

October 31, 2018

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced on October 31, 2018, ARPA-E's first ever Grid Optimization (GO) Competition. @SecretaryPerry

Additional Information is here. A list of Support Grants for Participation in ARPA-E GO Competition Challenge 1 awardees is here.

October 31, 2018

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry today announced ARPA-E's first ever Grid Optimization (GO) Competition. The GO Competition is a series of challenges to develop software management solutions for a resilient and secure American electricity grid. Today marks the beginning of GO Challenge 1, offering up to $4 million in prizes to develop new algorithms to make routing power across the grid faster and more efficient. See Press Release.

October 23, 2018

The Python Evaluation source code, evaluation.py, was made available on GitHub at https://github.com/GOCompetition/Evaluation

Entrants may find the input data parsing done by the Evaluation code (specifically in data.py) a useful model for their own code.

August 28, 2018

The initial version of the Problem Formulation document for Challenge 1 may be found on the Problem Formulation page.

The initial version of the Scoring document for Challenge 1 may be found on the Scoring page.

The most recent versions of these documents will also be listed on these pages.

August 15, 2018

The most recent version of the  Rules document for Challenge 1 may be found on the Rules page.

July 27, 2018

A video of the June 28, 2018 GO Competition Workshop held at FERC is available here.

July 26, 2018

The most recent version Scoring document for Challenge 1 may be found on the Scoring page.

July 24, 2018

ARPA-E today issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) of up to $5 million for research and development of algorithms to modernize the electric grid. If successful, awardees will participate in Challenge 1 of ARPA-E’s Grid Optimization (GO) Competition, set to launch in fall 2018. See the press release. The FOA (DE-FOA-0001952) can be found at ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Announcement--select Funding Archive in the upper left and enter the FOA number if the direct link does not work. View the Support Grants for Participation in ARPA-E GO Competition Challenge 1 FOA Document.

July 23, 2018

ARPA-E announces the Grid Optimization (GO) Competition Challenge 1. View the announcement.

June 28, 2018

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2018 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 26-28, 2018.

  • Revisiting Mixed-Integer Programming Gaps and Pricing in RTO-scale Unit Commitment Problems, presented by Brent Eldridge; presentation
  • Power System Restoration through Mixed Integer Linear Programming, presented by Ignacio Aravena; presentation
  • Latest Developments on the Precise Mass-Market DR Participation in the Wholesale Energy Markets through Stochastic Distributed Computing, presented by Alex Papalexopoulos; presentation
  • Recent Advances in MILP Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem, presented by Ben Knueven; presentation
  • Generator Contingency Modeling in Electric Energy Markets, presented by Nikita Singhal and Kory W. Hedman; presentation
  • Distributed Solution Algorithms for Security Constrained Unit Commitment in Evolving Day Ahead Electricity Markets, presented by Jesse Holzer; presentation
  • HIPPO - A High-Performance Computing Solver for Security Constrained Unit Commitment Problem, presented by Feng Pan; presentation

The slides presented at the Grid Optimization Competition Workshop held at the conclusion of the FERC Technical Conference are available for download. A video is also available.

June 13, 2018

Daniel S. Kheloussi, Energy Industry Analyst, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent an e-mail to people registered for FERC's Ninth Annual Software Conference - June 26-28, 2018 informing them of the ARPA-E GRID OPTIMIZATION COMPETITION WORKSHOP 1:15PM to 3:30PM on June 28, 2018. View the announcement from FERC, and download the workshop details included as attachments (PDF, MSWord).

April 25, 2018

Dr. Kory Hedman, ARPA-E Program Director, provided information about this competition in an e-mail to the Power Globe community on April 25, 2018.

September 27, 2017

The first (Beta) submission by a GO Competition registered user was made. The code was written in Java.

September 22, 2017

Location: Chicago, Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, RM 2011
Agenda: 
1.      10am-11:30am Go through competition.
a.      Competition problem formulation. post-contingency model
b.      Dataset composition and format
c.      Scoring
d.      Competition timeline
2.      11:30-12:30  pm Lunch

3.      12:30-2:00pm Description of datasets from the GRID DATA teams
4.      2:00-3:00pm Data validation procedure
5.      3:00-4:00pm Schedule for dataset release

Attendees: Patrick McGrath, Timothy Heidel, Pascal Van Hentenryck, Thomas Overbye, Christopher DeMarco, Hans Mittelmann, Stephen Elbert, Jesse Holzer, Feng Pan

 

August 2, 2017

First registration with GO Competition Beta website.

June 28, 2017

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2017 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 26-28, 2017.

  • Error Bounds on Power Flow Linearizations: A Convex Relaxation Approach, presented by Dan Molzahn; Presentation
  • Linearized Reactive Power and Voltage Constraints for DC OPF, presented by Brent Eldridge (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • Multi-Period Dual Pricing Algorithm for Cost Allocation in Non-Convex Electricity Markets, presented by Robin Broder Hytowitz (with Richard O'Neill and Brent Eldridge); Presentation

GRID DATA related talks

  • A Methodology for the Creation of Geographically Realistic, Synthetic Optimal Power Flow Models, presented by Tom Overby; Presentation
  • Multiport Element Models and Sparse Tableau Network Representation for Security Constrained Optimal Power Flow, presented by Chris DeMarco; Presentation
  • Grid Research for Good: High-Fidelity Power Systems Data Sets, Format, and Software Tools for Optimal Power Flow, presented by Pascal Van Hentenryck; Presentation
  • Smart-DS: Synthetic Models for Advanced, Realistic Testing- Distribution Systems and Scenarios, presented by Venkat Krishnan; Presentation
  • Sustainable Data Evolution Technology (SDET) for Power Grid Optimization, presented by Ruishing Diao; Presentation
  • The ARPA-E Generating Realistic Information for the Development of Distribution and Transmission Algorithms (GRID DATA) Repository, presented by Dariush Shirmohammadi; Presentation
  • DR POWER: a Data Repository for Power system Open models With Evolving Resources, presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation

June 15, 2017

Beta version of GO Competition website goes live.

February 2017

The GO Competition was formally announced at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in February 2017.

January 26-27, 2017

ARPA-E holds GRID DATA Annual Technical Review Meeting in San Diego, CA. 

November 7, 2016

ARPA-E held a 90 minute webinar to directly involve the community, via a Request for Information (RFI), on the design of this competition. The RFI was released October 11, 2016. View a video recording of the webinar.

October 11, 2016

ARPA-E releases a Request for Information (RFI) on Grid Optimization Competition Design. View the RFI pdf.

June 28, 2016

The 2016 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software was held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 27-29, 2016. The following talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition were given:

  • A Strong Semidefinite Programming Relaxation of the Unit Commitment Problem, presented by Javad Lavaei, presentation
  • Visualizing the Feasible Spaces of Challenging OPF Problems, presented by Daniel Molzahn
  • Power System State Estimation with a Limited Number of Measurements, presented by Javad Lavaei; presentation
  • Power-Capacity and Ramp-Capability Reserves for Wind Integration in Power-Based Unit Commitment, presented by Germán Morales-España with Ross Baldick
  • Generating Cuts from the Ramping Polytope for the Unit Commitment Problem, presented by James Ostrowski; presentation
  • Strengthened MILP Formulation for the Edge-based Combined-Cycle Unit Model, presented by Yongpei Guan; presentation
  • Dual Pricing Algorithm for Cost Allocation in Non-Convex Electricity Markets, presented by Robin Broder Hytowitz with Richard O’Neill and Brent Eldridge; presentation
  • Modelling and Solving Security Constrained Optimal Power Flow in Parallel, presented by Cosmin Petra; presentation
  • Modeling and Solving Battery Operation Problems, presented by Daniel Bienstock; presentation
  • Towards Continuous-time Optimization Models for Power Systems Operation, presented by Masood Parvania; presentation

In addition, the following Competition and GRID DATA related talks were presented:

  • Optimal Power Flow Competition Design Considerations, presented by Timothy Heidel with Feng Pan, Stephen Elbert, Chris DeMarco, and Hans Mittlemann; Presentation
  • Data Repository for Power System Open Models With Evolving Resources (DR POWER), presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation

March 30-31, 2016

ARPA-E holds GRID DATA Kickoff Meeting in Denver, CO.

January 15, 2016

ARPA-E announced $11 million in funding for seven transformational projects as part of ARPA-E’s newest program, Generating Realistic Information for the Development of Distribution and Transmission Algorithms (GRID DATA). View the GRID DATA Program announcement; view the GRID DATA projects.

October 19, 2015

Submission Deadline for Full Applications to GRID DATA Program

June 23, 2015

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2015 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 22-24, 2015.

  • First Order Line Loss Approximation for LMP Calculation, presented by Brent Eldridge (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • Impact of ACOPF Constraints on Security-Constrained Unit Commitment, presented by Anya Castillo (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • Identifying and Controlling Risky Contingencies of Transmission Systems, presented by Daniel Bienstock; Presentation
  • Flexible Transmission Decision Support Systems, presented by Kory Hedman; Presentation
  • Using High Performance Computing to Solve Unit Commitment Problem, presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation

June 10, 2015

ARPA-E issues Generating Realistic Information for the Development of Distribution and Transmission Algorithms (GRID DATA) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). One of the objectives is that "models and repository created in this program may be used as the basis for an ARPA-E OPF algorithm competition." View the FOA (DE-FOA-0001357) pdf. ARPA-E released the Teaming Partner List (RFI-0000017) for the upcoming data FOA on April 24.

April 28, 2015

In preparation for the meeting, the attendees, Tim Heidel and David Guarerra from ARPA-E and PNNL staff, were sent a draft white paper and the agenda.

Feng Pan presented the case for PNNL hosting the Competition.

At the end of the meeting, Heidel officially asked PNNL to prepare a non-competitive proposal for supporting the Competition in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Arizona State University. He was very much impressed by the breadth and depth of PNNL's work as well as the high quality of the multi-disciplinary team. PNNL received permission to support the Competition and compete for GRID DATA funding. 

The final problem definition and associated data remained to be determined, although security constrained ACOPF is Heidel's favorite.

ARPA-E held its sixth annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit February 9 - February 11, 2015 at the Gaylord Convention Center just outside Washington, D.C. The Summit brought together thought leaders from academia, business, and government to discuss cutting-edge energy issues and facilitate relationships to help move technologies into the marketplace.

February 9, 2015 ARPA-E Program Director/Fellow Fast Pitch (session video)
Dr. Tim Heidel, Program Director, "Optimization of Electricity Transmission Networks to Facilitate Renewables Integration" 

Tim's Presentation starts at 26:50 into the video. The Competition is mentioned on slides 7 and 8.

Dr. Paul Albertus, Fellow, "Moving Ions, Moving Energy: Opportunities in Ion Conducting Layers"
Dr. Jason Rugolo, Program Director, "A Unified Transportation and Electricity Infrastructure"
Dr. Joe Cornelius, Program Director, "Accelerating Energy Crop Development"
Dr. Sonja Glavaski, Program Director, "From Local to Global: Distributed Energy Resources Integration"

PNNL's Henry Huang was at the Summit and discussed PNNL's interest in a possible competition with Tim Heidel, sending him on February 25 a draft white paper outlining a possible PNNL role and inviting him to PNNL for further discussions. Heidel responded April 1 with a copy of his Summit slides (see Presentation above), his own 3-page white paper, and a request to meet April 28 when he would be visiting PNNL to review a another program. Heidel also requested that Chris DeMarco (University of Wisconsin - Madison) and Hans Mittelmann (Arizona State University) be involved, bringing their data and optimization skills to the team.

November 13-14, 2014

ARPA-E holds Advanced Bulk Power System Optimization Technologies Workshop in Arlington, VA, organized by Tim Heidel. The Workshop concluded publicly available (synthetic) data is needed before an Optimization Competition can be held. This led to the establishment of the ARPA-E Generating Realistic Information for the Development of Distribution and Transmission Algorithms (GRID DATA) Program and eventually to the Grid Optimization (GO) Competition.

June 25, 2014

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2014 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 23-25, 2014.

  • On the role of wind covariance estimation in power grid dispatch, presented by Cosmin Petra; Presentation
  • FULL AC NETWORK INTEGRATED CORE SOLVER FOR THE SUPEROPF FRAMEWORK, presented by Hsiao-Dong Chiang; Presentation
  • Moment-Based Relaxations of the Optimal Power Flow Problem, presented by Dan Molzahn; Presentation
  • Multi-Stage Robust Optimization in Electric Energy Systems, presented by Andy Sun; Presentation
  • Multi-time-step Chance Constrained Generation Re-dispatch, presented by Daniel Bienstock; Presentation
  • Experience Solving the RTO Unit Commitment Test System, presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation

June 25, 2013

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2013 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 24-26, 2013.

  • Synchronization-Aware and Algorithmically-Efficient Chance Constrained Optimal Power Flow, presented by Daniel Bienstock; Presentation
  • A Novel Parallel Approach to Solving Constrained Linear Optimization Problems, presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation
  • Application of Semidefinite Programming to Large-Scale Optimal Power Flow Problems, presented by Dan Molzahn (with DeMarco, Lesieutre, and Ferris); Presentation
  • COMPUTATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SOLUTION TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO THE ACOPF, presented by Anya Castillo (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • ACOPF models: extending data, formulations, and solution methodology, presented by Michael Ferris (with Molzahn, DeMarco and Lesieutre); Presentation
  • Solving MPEC Models with the KNITRO Nonlinear Solver, presented by Richard Waltz; Presentation

June 27, 2012

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2012 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 25-27, 2012.

  • Robust Corrective Transmission Switching Schemes, presented by Kory Hedman; Presentation
  • The price of storage: collections of models to decide what, when and how, presented by Michael Ferris (with Jesse Holzer); Presentation
  • Linear-Programming Approximations of AC Power Flows, presented by Pascal Van Hentenryck (with Carleton Coffrin); Presentation
  • The IV Formulation of the ACOPF and The IV Formulation of the ACOPF and its linearizations, presented by Richard O'Neill; Presentation
  • Robust Optimal Power Flow with Uncertain Renewables, presented by Daniel Bienstock; Presentation
  • Advanced Methods for Security Constrained Financial Transmission Rights (FTR), presented by Stephen Elbert; Presentation
  • Opportunities for Exploiting Problem Structure in Unit Commitment MIP Models, presented by Ed Rothberg; Presentation

June 28, 2011

Talks by people eventually involved (support or competitors) with the Competition at the 2011 FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency through Improved Software held at the FERC building in Washington, DC, June 28-30, 2011.

  • Linear and Integer Programming - Powering Unit Commitment Models, presented by Edward Rothberg; Presentation
  • RTO-Scale Unit Commitment Test Cases, presented by Eric Krall (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • Online Control of Cascading Power Failures, presented by Daniel Bienstock; Presentation
  • AC Optimal Transmission Switching, presented by Thomas Dautel (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation
  • Computational Approaches to the AC Optimal Power Flow (OPF) Problem, presented by Anya Castillo (with Richard O'Neill); Presentation

This conference series was started in 2008 by Richard P. O'Neill, but there seems to be no on-line records until 2010.

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