Change log

This section describes the changes introduced at each Version.

* Short releases indicate the fix of a critical bug.

Version 5.0.2 (The great split)

  • Massive refactor to allow multiple bus-branch diagrams and maps.

  • The great split: Now there are two packages: GridCal which delas with the graphical user interface and GridCalEngine that provides all the engine functionality without Qt dependencies.

  • MIP auto-healing: OPF simuations are always feasible by properly relaxing infeasible ones.

  • Added cutting edge investments evaluation. This will be evolved in future releases.

  • API naming unification

  • Overall refactoring and bug fixing

Version 4.7.0

  • Massive refactor to accommodate flexible contingencies and investment objects

  • Major refactor in the short circuit study to add sequence components

  • Better integration of other calculation engines

  • Added PSSe 35 raw support

  • Overall bug fixing

Version 4.5.1

  • Now the short circuit includes the loading results again (bug fix)

  • Merged Short circuit contribution from user Ameer Carlo Lubang

  • The HELM algorithm is now able to stop before reaching the iteration limit

Version 4.5.0

  • Added HiGHS as an optional MIP solver

  • Added NTC optimization time series

  • Tweak improvements in the NTC optimization calculation

  • Moved to the more standard ZIP model, instead of the embedded ZIP model

  • Further Bentayga Integration:

    • Translated the power flow report

    • Added fast decoupled power flow

  • Refactored the code for all power flow numerical methods (No external changes should be appreciated)

  • Cleaned the backtracking process in Newton-Raphson

Version 4.4.5

  • Integrated Bentayga’s PTDF / LODF calculation

  • Improved HVDC oscillation control when acting in free mode

  • Integrated the Highs solver into the custom pulp implementation

Version 4.4.3

  • Added HVDC oscillation control when acting in free mode

Version 4.4.2

  • Changed the license to LGPL

  • Improved HVDC power flow control management

  • Added the license directly in the about box, featuring the linking exceptions for Bentayga and Newton.

  • Rearranged menus oon the GUI.

Version 4.3.5

  • Fixed State Estimation error.

  • Fixed: The buses name change immediately change the GUI bus name tag.

  • Added NTC-OPF pre-solve diagnostic.

  • Added ATC clustering simulation.

  • Added DC power flow phase shifter effects.

  • Added Proper HVDC losses calculation.

  • Added HVDC “free” control to the power flow. This changes the HVDC set point using the angular difference.

  • Added Newton interface for power flow.

  • Added bentayga interface for power flow and time series.

  • Added device fusion per node: this add all the devices of the same type connected to a node.

  • Added functions with expert rules to correct and delete inconsistencies.

  • Improved: Better island detection when buses are disconnected.

  • Modified the ATC report to be similar to the NTC-OPF report.

  • Rearranged the settings (added ML and Areas tabs)

Version 4.2.8

  • Added very detailed NTC-opf logger

Version 4.2.7

  • Added virtual taps to the array view.

  • Added the ability to plot and copy to the array view.

  • Adapted to apple M1 limitations: Cannot use PyQt web view, cannot use CBC for now in the NTC-optimization only GLOP.

  • Added the possibility of using Google’s GLOP optimization engine with the NTC optimization.

  • Added better logging to the NTC optimization to report the slack variables.

  • Added 3-node state estimation test.

  • Added again the Gauss-Seidel power flow mainly aimed at the education sector.

  • Added correct_branches_monitoring function to the GUI to be accessed as a console command.

  • Added correct_shit function to correct virtual taps and generator set points to the GUI to be accessed as a console command.

  • Changed the contingency report of the ATC and NTC simulations to include all the contingencies despite it being massive.

  • Fixed syntax error with the state estimator.

  • Improved Power World .epc format parser.

  • Increased the console buffer size to 10000 lines.

Version 4.2.5

  • Fixed simple OPF dispatch

Version 4.2.4

  • Added HVDC and phase shifter optimization to the DC OPF and time series OPF

  • Added contingency report to all the OPF modes

  • Added transformer angle and tap module profiles

  • Added dispatchable HVDC devices to the optimization

  • Linked the HVDC and phase shifting from th OPF to the PF

  • Removed AC linear OPF for the time being

Version 4.2.3

  • Fixed memory leak in the TowerBuilderGui handling

Version 4.2.2

  • Fixed CIM export.

  • Fixed Batteries min_soc bug when running time series OPF.

  • Added contingencies to the DC-OPF time series.

  • Added possibility of copper plate grouping.

Version 4.2.1

  • Added Early PowerWorld grids converter

  • Added inputs analysis (Area, Zone, Country analysis)

  • Added logging to the NTC OPF

  • Added contingencies to the NTC OPF

  • Added icon to the bus drag and drop (finally)

  • Added vsc control modes Vdc and Pdc

  • Added console commands to access the session results

  • Added console commands app.numerical_circuit`and `app.islands.

  • Added console command app.delete_shit() to delete all the useless islands and disconnected equipment.

  • Fixed bug and improved clipboard results export

  • Fixed glitch when importing profiles

  • Fixed the kV not being calculated in the results’ tool tips

Version 4.2.0

  • Added the ability to save the results into the file, loading and unloading from the file. This is a massive feature.

  • Added contingency analysis colouring.

  • Added ATC generation scaling based on the installed power.

  • Added NTC calculation using optimal dispatch (blue lambda).

  • Added time series bus type series. Now the bus types change upon the generators’ availability.

  • Better detection of power imbalances in the analysis tool.

  • Finalized the json v3 export implementation.

  • Fixed really rare bug with .real and .imag was making HELM diverge. Now it is fixed.

  • Fixed multiple slacks error in PTDF calculations.

  • Fixed bug where the voltage profiles were not being applied.

  • Fixed FUBM model branch power calculation.

  • Overall usability improvements.

Version 4.1.2

  • Added branch contingency multiplier for contingency related simulations

  • Added Available Transmission Capacity

  • Added dynamic bus types for the time series, this allows to correctly account for the generators’ status

Version 4.1.1

  • Fixed per unit computation with the GUI dialogues.

  • Converted GUI simulation thread handling to a session based architecture.

Version 4.1.0

  • Added coordinates and position input dialogue for the buses

  • Added ability to set a branch rating profile from the snapshot, via a context menu option.

  • Added time series clustering

  • Added HDF file format .gch5

  • Much faster read and write of .gridcal files due to the saving of the profiles in pandas “pickles”

  • Fixed Areas not loading properly

  • Fixed Time series indexing for discontinuous index.

Version 4.0.2

  • Fixed xlrd dependency. It broke the profile import because it stopped supporting .xlsx. Switched to openpyxl.

  • Fixed Wire call bug when not passing idtag.

  • Added shunt voltage control.

Version 4.0.0 (multi-terminal DC Grids)

  • General

    • Massive re-write of all the structures and the engine in order to have a more flexible approach to the devices and how the information is passed from the asset manager (the circuit) to the simulations. Hence the version jump attends to that massive effort.

    • Fixed transformer editor Sbase conversion.

    • Added HVDC line model.

    • Added VSC branch model.

    • Added DC line model.

    • Added tags to the sigma-plot.

    • Added Substation, Zone, Area and Country objects to group better the buses.

  • GUI

    • Ability to select columns and rows when plotting the results

    • Added update check and command in the GUI about box.

    • Added a quite good random grid generator from the project SyntheticNetworks.

    • Added a bus viewer: It allows to visualize subsets of the grid. It is useful for very large grids where the complete schematic is cumbersome or slow.

    • Added check that converts the results into CDF.

    • Added check that converts the results into their absolute value.

    • Added schematic branch width based on the line flow.

    • Added button in the results to copy text data in numpy format.

    • Added column search in the results.

    • Revamp of the context menus.

    • Replaced how all the GUI messages are handled.

    • Improved the logger window, which now allows to save logs report.

    • Improved the transformer and line editors integrating the template selection.

    • Improved filtering (bool values are recognised now)

  • I/O

    • Added better Json export file (v3.1 of the specification).

    • Improved the PSS/e Raw file import.

    • Implemented the ability to load several files to load a bunch of .xml CIM files together.

  • Linear Analysis

    • Replaced the empirical PTDF/OTDF by the analytical PTDF/LODF which are several orders of magnitude faster.

    • Added linear contingency analysis time series

    • Added linear grouping based on PTDF + DBScan clustering.

  • Power Flow

    • Improved the speed of the power flow process, by delaying the matrices and vector calculations until needed by any method.

    • Fixed the line search in Newton-Raphson, now it is truly non-divergent.

    • Removed the outer loop completely. Now the outer loop controls are performed inside the numerical methods that allow it (NR, LM, etc…) This is much faster.

    • Now the reactive power control only converts PQ->PV, and not the other way around. This renders into a more stable process.

    • Seamless AC-DC simulation:

      • Added the FUBM model at the numeric circuit level

      • Added FUBM version of the line-search Newton-Raphson method (without the super optimized jacobian for now)

      • Integrated it with the GUI.

      • The advanced controls such a transformer power set-points are simulated using the FUBM logic.

  • Stochastic Power Flow

    • Merged Monte Carlo and Latin Hypercube in the same simulation driver.

  • Continuation Power Flow

    • Added reactive power limits option for the generators.

    • Added overload stop criteria.

    • Added distributed slack.

    • Added back-tracking mechanism to the corrector step.

    • Now you can select to collapse a selection of nodes, from the GUI as well.

    • Now you can set the direction of the continuation negative so that you actually increase the generation. This allows the use of the CPF as an exploration tool.

Version 3.7.1

  • Added Jacobian with numba optimization from Pandapower increasing Newton-Raphson performance by x20.

  • Measuring the branch power instead of the current in the stochastic simulations.

  • Fixes the problem with qtConsole by not displaying the console if the package crashes. Hopefully the QtConsole team will fix their issue.

Version 3.7.0 (HELM)

  • Replaced the numerical circuit by two specialised objects: one for static power flow and another one for time series This allows to include specific circuit compilations for different studies such as harmonics ot dynamic studies without overcrowding the numerical circuit object with unused stuff.

  • Greatly improved the time series flushing speed when saving.

  • Improved the auto-link feature in the time series import.

  • Added clustering to the time series.

  • Added ability to not to draw the schematic. This speeds up operation with very large grids.

  • The time series output size now adjust to the selected time interval.

  • Now to drop a file does not automatically load the grid when another one is loaded.

  • Replaced the previous HELM version by a working and competitive one thanks to Josep Fanals Batllori.

  • Added the HELM-Sigma analysis tool.

Version 3.6.7

  • Fixed critical bug with the user gathering under windows.

  • Improved the Analysis tool.

Version 3.6.6

  • Fixed PTDFTimeSeries timing.

  • Connected loose parameters on the PTDFTimeSeries class.

  • Fixed the Fast decoupled power flow algorithm.

Version 3.6.5

  • Added Sqlite save/open support.

  • Added Grid append functionality.

  • Added units in the results.

  • Now all the results are displayed in real numbers instead of in complex numbers.

  • Added an amazing functionality to allow model synchronization across several computers.

Version 3.6.4

  • Integrated better the PTDF into the GUI.

  • Added VTDF calculations in the PTDF and PTDF time series.

  • Added GIS as a visualization option.

  • Improved the OPF formulation times.

  • Improved the Jacobian-based power flow speeds by reducing the steps in the error computation.

  • Fixed loading visualization in the schematic.

Version 3.6.3

  • Added equipment catalogue to the docs.

  • Added tutorial section to the docs.

  • Added simple dispatch.

  • Refactored the device-bus connectivity matrices to avoid transpositions.

  • Added function to relocate buses based on their peers.

  • Added PTDF based time series.

  • Fixed very important bug that neglected the sign of the power flows!

Version 3.6.2

  • Added logs record to the “export all” process.

  • Added a console reset. This is needed when the console crashes.

  • Improved the grid data expert analysis tool.

  • Now the GUI elements are in a package GridEditorWidget instead of a single file. This improves the maintainability.

  • Added ability to set OPF generation into the power flow, the load shedding is also subtracted.

  • Fixed long standing bug related to MC and LHS having very small variation.

  • Fixed bug with buses not creating their own profile

  • Fixed bug with the run power flow interface

Version 3.6.1

  • Added N-1 and OTDF

  • Now the plots are way faster

  • Now the export results truly exports everything into a zip file with csv files inside.

  • The top menus have been re-arranged.

  • The multi-core test was moved into research.

  • Added tap module to the power flow results.

  • Fixed bug related to OPF results being multiplied by Sbase twice.

  • Fixed units displayed in the results plot.

  • Fixed the results representation when single-node islands were ignored.

Version 3.6.0

  • Fixed csv profile input.

  • Added similarity-based auto link in the profile import.

  • Improved PSS/e import by improving the device naming.

  • Refactored the power flow section, removing quite a lot of the existing complexity. Now there is only one power flow class which calls to power flow functions.

  • Changed the multiprocess from multiple processes to a pool. Hopefully this will allow multi-core on MS Windows.

  • Added a proper logger object.

Version 3.5.9

  • Added the ability to ignore single node islands

  • Fixed voltage module in the LACPF algorithm: Now the PQ buses voltage is closer to NR.

  • Improved the Newton-Raphson line search speed by roughly 200% by tuning the acceleration parameter.

Version 3.5.8

  • Fixed PTDF and added cancelling.

  • Fixed Vbranch not being copied correctly in multi-island mode in the Time series.

  • Redesigned the results tab: Now the data is the default view and the plot is optional. This allows a much better user interface experience since Matplotlib does not block the results when the grids are large.

  • Added N-k simulation.

  • Fixed PSS/e import branches; PSS/e does not account for the length in the impedance computation.

  • Greatly improved the PSS/e file parser by using variable length lists.

  • Implemented the distributed slack.

  • Open by GUI file drop.

  • Fixed bug: Now when many generators are at a node only one controls voltage.

Version 3.5.7

  • Fixed profile default-value initialization in automatic-load function.

  • Added branch dynamic rating.

Version 3.5.6

  • Added thread for buses delete-and-reduce functionality.

  • Moved the pulp solvers into individual files.

  • Implemented the option to choose the linear algebra framework.

  • Vastly improved DC power flow performance.

Version 3.5.5

  • Added generator technology property

  • Refactored code to make it simpler:

    • The enum’s behave like types and are able to parse text into types.

    • The objects editor is now agnostic of complex types, and so are the load and save functions.

  • Added Power Transfer Distribution Factors (PTDF) analysis

Version 3.5.4

  • Fixed bug related to adding wires to the GUI.

  • For some reason, sdist does not ship the right files to pypi, so changed to bdist_wheel

  • Fixed code smells

Version 3.5.3

  • Added voltage angle in the power flow results and time series power flow results. About time!

  • Removed warnings from the power flow driver. Now the warnings are stored in a log and displayed in the GUI.

  • Fixed the rare bug of native open file dialogues not showing up. Native dialogues can be activated anytime via the “use_native_dialogues” flag in the GUI module.

  • Fixed multi-island opf simulation in all the modes.

  • Radically changed the way the file information is read. Now the function is much easier to maintain, so that changes in the objects should not affect the ability to read/write.

  • Changed the way the overhead lines tower information is stored. Now should be more maintainable.

Version 3.5.2

  • Removed pulp dependency in the generator objects (forced a critical update)

  • Added some icons in the GUI

Version 3.5.1

  • Simplified and unified the OPF interfaces.

  • Added AC-liner OPF time series as a non-sequential algorithm.

  • Added shadow prices to the non-sequential OPF.

  • Added the handling of dispatchable non dispatchable generators to the OPF.

  • Fixed bug with the OPF offset when starting at a index other than 0.

  • Fixed bug with time grouping that repeated the last index.

  • Fixed bug with the delegates setting for the boolean values

Version 3.5.0 (commemorating the 100 GitHub stars)

  • Added pulp as an embedded dependency, and updated its CBC solver with a custom compiled one from the latest sources.

  • Fixed some bug related to the OPF storage and results display in non-sequential mode.

Version 3.4.2

  • Fixed branch saving code (hopefully forever)

  • Fixed the loading of some properties that were missing.

  • Fixed the non-sequential OPF.

Version 3.4.1

  • Added branch voltage and angle drops in the power flow and power flow time series simulations.

  • Added cost profiles for the use in the OPF programs.

  • Fixed critical bug when applying profile to snapshot.

  • Fixed pySide related bug when converting dates.

  • Fixed ui bug when setting values in the profiles manually.

Version 3.4.0

  • Now when highlighting the selection, the buses on the schematic are selected. This feature allows to move buses in bulk after any selection kind.

  • Added feature to highlight buses based on any numeric property from the grid objects.

  • Added “master” delete from the schematic. Now any selection of buses from the schematic can be deleted at once.

Version 3.3.9

  • Improved object filtering.

  • Fixed critical bug involving the change to setuptools.

Version 3.3.7

  • Added filtering capabilities to the object browser.

  • Added Bus reduction.

  • Added bus highlight based on the object filtering.

Version 3.3.6

  • Continued to improved PSS/e .raw support.

  • Fixed the bug caused by PySide2 with the excel sheet selection window.

Version 3.3.5

  • Greatly improved PSS/e .raw file import support.

Version 3.3.4

  • The tower names are displayed correctly now.

  • Completely switched from PyQt5 to PySide2.

  • Added support for PSS/e RAW file format Version 29.

  • Overall bug fix.

Version 3.3.0

  • Now the branches and the buses have activation profiles. This allows to run time series where the topology changes. Only available for time series for the moment.

  • The branches now allow to profile their temperature. This allows to change the resistance to explore heat effects.

  • Added undo / redo to the profiles editor. This improves usability quite a bit.

  • Added csv files into zip files as the GridCal default format. This allows to use the same logic as with the excel files but with much faster saving and loading times. Especially suited for large grids with large profiles.

  • Added error logging for the power flow time series.

  • Massive refactoring of the the files in the program structure, hoping to provide a more intuitive interface.

  • Replace the internal profiles from Pandas DataFrames to numpy arrays. This makes the processing simpler and more robust.

  • Added rating to cables.

  • Changed the TransformerType inner property names to shorter ones.

  • Plenty of bug fixes.