On the exactness of convex relaxation for optimal power flow in tree networks

Abstract—The optimal power flow (OPF) problem determines a network operating point that minimizes a certain objective such as generation cost or power loss. It is nonconvex. We prove that a global optimum of OPF can be obtained by solving a second-order cone program, under a mild condition after shrinking the OPF feasible set slightly, for radial power networks. The condition can be checked a priori, and holds for the IEEE 13, 34, 37, 123-bus networks and two real-world networks. I.