PSR has released version 19 of SDDP, which incorporates new modeling features and enhancements to the platform’s tools. The updates keep pace with the growing complexity of power system planning and operations, driven by the expansion of variable renewable sources, energy storage, transmission constraints, and rising demand from large loads such as data centers.
With solar and wind generation fluctuating at minute-by-minute intervals, batteries being dispatched within the same hour, data centers adding massive blocks of demand, and new power plants frequently being installed far from the existing grid, it has become necessary to represent these effects with higher temporal resolution, more detailed network models, and a larger number of scenarios — which also increases the scale of optimization problems.
SDDP 19 expands the level of modeling detail across the entire platform and strengthens integration among the different models used in planning and operational stages: expansion, with OptGen and OptNet; operations, with SDDP; maintenance, with OptMain; network analysis, with NetPlan; and short-term scheduling, with NCP, which now operates at intervals of down to one minute.
Among the main highlights is the incorporation of PSR’s already well-established models into the platform. NCP, used for decades in short-term scheduling, gains higher temporal resolution and closer integration with the other models, receiving water values and other medium- and long-term decisions directly from SDDP’s policy. OptNet now acts as OptGen’s network module, verifying transmission expansion planning while accounting for all dispatch scenarios calculated by SDDP. Meanwhile, NetPlan performs alternating current (AC) optimal power flow, building on SDDP’s dispatch to check voltage levels and reactive power.
SDDP and OptGen also received new capabilities to represent data centers and other large loads, battery operating cycles and self-discharge, degradation, resilience days, and explicit inertia constraints. In addition to modeling advances, the new version delivers performance improvements, including faster OptGen convergence speeds in large-scale studies and quicker, more robust solutions.
The new release also features redesigned tools shared across the models, such as a georeferenced network viewer, a new tool for creating charts and results dashboards, and an add-in manager that allows users to complement the platform with custom solutions. The georeferenced visualization makes it possible to jointly view power plants, the transmission grid in high detail, and large loads, along with their input data and results. This facilitates studies where location is critical, such as renewable expansion, inter-regional bottlenecks, and data center connections.
Check out all the new features of SDDP 19 here.
