Distribution-grid reconfiguration on a 69-bus feeder
Switch reconfiguration on a 69-bus distribution network run on a superconducting quantum processor through our platform network. The optimum was found more than seven times as often as with the unoptimised quantum workflow; the baseline is a quantum workflow, not a classical solver. The scale at which this would beat classical methods, about 230 buses, is a projection and has not been shown.
Impact
The problem
Which switches to open and close on a feeder to minimise losses while keeping every customer supplied. A combinatorial problem that grows quickly with the number of buses.
Our approach
The reconfiguration was encoded for a superconducting processor and run with and without the error-suppressing workflow, so the gain is measured against the same device running plainly.
The evidence
- More than seven-fold probability of finding the optimum against the unoptimised quantum workflow, 69-bus network, superconducting processor.
- About 230 buses is the projected scale for a benefit over classical methods; the source marks it not yet demonstrated.
- Not claimed: a gain over a classical solver at 69 buses.
Status: Platform network + Quantum hardware. Delivered through our platform network; superconducting quantum processor; hardware demonstration with a projection; the baseline is a quantum workflow.