The Power of Quantum Computing

Yousu Chen, Samuel Stein, Ang Li +1 more

With the global trend of pursuing clean energy and decarbonization, power systems have been evolving in a fast pace that we have never seen in the history of electrifi-cation. Power system researchers have been leveraging classical high-performance computing (HPC) techniques to increase the computational speed for better decision support. However, there are intractable problems that cannot be handled by classical HPC. Quantum computing (QC) as an emerging technology has been well recognized and holds promises to significantly revolutionize computing for complex power system applications. This paper introduces the fundamentals of quantum computing, briefly summarizes the existing quantum computing applications in literature, and explains the need of exploring quantum computing potentials for power systems. A quantum neural network application in power system contingency analysis is presented as an example to show the potential of quantum computing. More importantly, this paper emphasizes the need for co-existence of classical HPC and quantum computing and recommends three quantum computing research directions in power systems: quantum-inspired algorithm for large-scale optimization, variational quantum algorithms (VQA) translation, and power system data qubitization.

Jeff Kabachinski

Rahul Mishra

Quantum mechanics (QM) forms the basis for quantum computation (QC), a paradigm that provides distinctive problem-solving abilities. Although quantum computing (QC) has demonstrated potential in theoretical physics and computer science, its practical applications, particularly in power systems, have not been thoroughly studied. The objective of this work is to highlight the use of quantum computing (QC) as a solution for addressing the rising computational difficulties in power systems. The text provides an introduction to the historical history and essential concepts of QC, and then explores its modern applications in solving intricate power system problems. The aforementioned subjects comprise the study of alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC)” power flow, contingency analysis, state estimation, modeling of electromagnetic transients, fault diagnostics, unit commitment, and challenges related to facility location-allocation.” Despite the existing limits of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, the potential of quantum computing to address significant power system concerns on a wide scale holds promise, mostly driven by anticipated advancements in technology and increased research endeavors.

Madhusudan Singh Irish Singh, Bharat S. Rawal

Saeed Golestan, Mohammad Reza Habibi, Seyyed Yousef Mousazadeh Mousavi +2 more

Quantum mechanics (QM) can be understood as a set of rules that forms the basis for developing all quantum theories. One of these theories is quantum computation (QC), i.e., computation based on QM logic. It is believed that QC provides paths to the problem solution that may not be possible for classical computers. Therefore, it has received attention to solve complex computational problems in different areas. Most of the research efforts, however, have concentrated on problems in theoretical physics and computer science, leaving little attention to solve practical problems in industrial applications. This is particularly true in power system applications where QC is mostly unknown. This paper mainly aims to attract the attention of power system researchers/engineers to QC as a potential solution to address emerging computational challenges of power systems. To this end, the historical development of QC and its fundamental concepts are first described. Then, recent contributions to solving computationally-demanding power system problems such as AC and DC power flow (PF), contingency analysis, state estimation, electromagnetic transients simulation (EMT), fault diagnosis, unit commitment (UC), and facility location–allocation (FLA) problems are discussed. Unfortunately, power system researchers have not yet been able to convincingly demonstrate a quantum advantage in solving large-scale power system problems mainly because we are in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, where quantum devices are noisy and have limited quantum resources. However, it may be demonstrated in the future with technological advances and increased research efforts in the area.