Collaborative Research: RI: Small: Deep Constrained Learning for Power Systems

In the last two decades, artificial intelligence has achieved remarkable progress in a variety of disciplines such as computer vision and natural language understanding. This project aims at leveraging robust artificial intelligence for transforming the electrical power grid, the largest machine built by humankind. Indeed, the integration of substantial renewable resources in power generation raises substantial computational challenges and, in particular, the solving of complex optimization problems with increased frequency. The project proposes a new paradigm, Deep Constrained Learning, to solve these large-scale optimization problems in real time, while ensuring efficient and reliable grid operations. If successful, the project may fundamentally transform how the grid is operated and bring significant economic and environmental benefits. While the development of Deep Constrained Learning is grounded in energy applications, the project findings may generalize to a broader class of engineering applications with hard physical or operational constraints. From a scientific standpoint, Deep Constrained Learning (DCL) is a tight integration of machine learning and optimization that delivers, in real time, reliable near-optimal solutions to large-scale nonconvex optimization problems. The project contributes to new scientific and engineering knowledge along two directions. It first demonstrates how DCL provides a principled way to accommodate hard constraints in deep learning by combining key methodologies from optimization into the training cycle of deep neural networks. Second, it shows how to exploit domain knowledge for model reduction, allowing DCL to handle the size and complexity of real power grids. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.