Source: HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

SECTION 11

LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

Badrul H.Chowdhury
Professor Electrical & Computer Engineering Department University of Missouri-Rolla

Intrduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Developing Power Flow Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Power-Flow Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6 Example of N-R Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.12 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.15 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.16

INTRODUCTION
The load-flow problem models the nonlinear relationships among bus power injections, power demands, and bus voltages and angles, with the network constants providing the circuit parameters. It is the heart of most system-planning studies and also the starting point for transient and dynamic stability studies. This section provides a formulation of the load-flow problem and its associated solution strategies. An understanding of the fundamentals of three-phase systems is assumed, including per-unit calculations, complex power relationships, and circuit-analysis techniques. There are two popular numerical methods for solving the power-flow equations. These are the Gauss-Seidel (G-S) and the Newton-Raphson (N-R) Methods (Grainger and Stevenson, 1994; Elgerd, 1982; Glover and Sharma, 1994). The N-R method is superior to the G-S method because it exhibits a faster convergence characteristic. However, the N-R method suffers from the disadvantage that a flat start is not always possible since the solution at the beginning can oscillate without converging toward the solution. In order to avoid this problem, the load-flow solution is often started with a G-S algorithm followed by the N-R algorithm after a few iterations. There is also an approximate but faster method for the load-flow solution. It is a variation of the N-R method, called the fast-decoupled method, which was introduced by Stott and Alsac (1974). We will not be covering this method in this section. 11.1
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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.2

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

NOMENCLATURE
SD = complex power demand SG = complex power generation S = complex bus power PD = real power demand, MW PG = real power generation P = real bus power QD = reactive power demand in MVAR QG = reactive power generation Q = reactive bus power |V | = bus voltage magnitude = bus voltage angle V = complex voltage B = shunt susceptance yp = shunt admittance ys = series admittance R = series resistance X = series reactance Zs = series impedance XG = synchronous reactance Yii = driving point admittance at bus i Yij = transfer admittance between busses i and j |Yij| = magnitude of Yij
ij

= angle of Yij

E = synchronous machine-gener ated voltage = complex current I Ybus = bus admittance matrix

DEVELOPING POWER-FLOW EQUATIONS

A two-bus example, shown in Fig. 11.1, is used to simplify the development of the power-flow equations. The system consists of two busses connected by a transmission line. One can observe . that there are six electrical quantities associated with each bus: PD, This is the most general case, in which each bus is shown to have both generation and demand. In reality, not all busses will have power generation. Thed impedance diagram of the two-bus system is shown in Fig. 11.2. The transmission line is represented by a p-model and the synchronous generator is represented by a source behind a synchronous reactance. The loads are assumed to be constant impedance for the sake of representing them on the impedance diagram. Typically, the load is represented by a constant power device, as shown in subsequent figures. Figure 11.3 is the same as Fig. 11.2 but with the generation and demand bundled together to represent bus power, which represents bus power injections. Bus power is defined as (1) and (2) Also, injected current at bus 1 is (3)

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.3

FIGURE 11.1 A two-bus power system.

FIGURE 11.2 Impedance diagram for the two-bus power system.

and injected current at bus 2 is (4) All quantities are assumed to be per unit. Then, since (5) and, since (6)

FIGURE 11.3 Bus powers with transmission line -model for the twobus system. Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website.

LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.4

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

FIGURE 11.4 Current flows in the network model.

Let us define current flows in the circuit as shown in Fig. 11.4. Therefore, at bus 1

(7) (8) where (9) (10) Similarly, at bus 2

(11) (12) (13) (14) Hence, for the two-bus power system, the current injections are (15) In matrix notation, (16) The two-bus system can easily be extended to a larger system. Consider an n-bus system. Figure 11.5a shows the connections from bus 1 of this system to all the other busses. Figure 11.5b shows the transmission line models. Equations (5) through (16) that were derived

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.5

FIGURE 11.5a Extending the analysis to an n-bus system.

FIGURE 11.5b The -model for the n-bus system.

for the two-bus system can now be extended to represent the n-bus system. This is shown next.

(17) (18) (19)

(20) (21)

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.6

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

Also, extending the power Eq. (5) to an n-bus system, (22) Equation (22) can be written for any generic bus i: (23) Equation (23) represents the nonlinear power-flow equations. Equation (15) can also be rewritten for an n-bus system:

(24)

or (25) where

(26)

POWER-FLOW SOLUTION
Let us take a generic bus as shown in Fig. 11.6. As mentioned earlier, each bus has six quantities . Assuming that there are or variables associated with it. They are n busses in the system, there would be a total of 6n variables.

FIGURE 11.6 A generic bus.

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS TABLE 11.1 Bus Classifications

11.7

The power-flow Eq. (23) can be resolved into the real and reactive parts as follows:

(27)

(28) Thus, there are 2n equations and 6n variables for the n-bus system. Since there cannot be a solution in such case, 4n variables have to be prespecified. Based on parameter specifications, we can now classify the busses as shown in Table 11.1. We will now describe the methods used in solving the power-flow equations.

Gauss-Seidel (G-S) Algorithm for Power-Flow Solution

Note that the power-flow equations are (23)

(29)

(30)

(31)

(32)

Also, from (29),

(33)

and
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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.8

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

(34) where Yij are elements of the Ybus.

The G-S Algorithm

Step 0. Formulate and Assemble Ybus in Per Unit Step 1. Assign Initial Guesses to Unknown Voltage Magnitudes and Angles

Step 2a. For Load Buses, Find Vi form Eq. (32)

where k=iteration no. For voltage-controlled busses, find Vi using (34) and (32) together. That is, find Qi first.

Then

However, |Vi| is specified for voltage-controlled busses. So, In using Eqs. (32) and (34), one must remember to use the most recently calculated values of bus voltages in each iteration. So, for example, if there are five busses in the system being studied, and one has determined new values of bus voltages at busses 1-3, then during the determination of bus voltage at bus 4, one should use these newly calculated values of bus voltages at 1, 2, and 3; busses 4 and 5 will have the values from the previous iteration. Step 2b. For Faster Convergence, Apply Acceleration Factor to Load Buses (35) where =acceleration factor. Step 3. Check Convergence (36) That is, the absolute value of the difference of the real part of the voltage between successive 104, and also, iterations should be less than a tolerance value . Typically, (37) That is, the absolute value of the difference of the imaginary value of the voltage should be less than a tolerance value .

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.9

FIGURE 11.7 A two-bus system illustrating line-flow computation.

If the difference is greater than tolerance, return to Step 3. If the difference is less than tolerance, the solution has converged; go to Step 4. Step 4. Find Slack Bus Power PG and QG from Eqs. (27) and (28) Step 5. Find All Line Flows as Describded in the Next Section Computing Line Flows. As the last step in any power-flow solution, one has to find the line flows. This is illustrated by the two-bus system shown in Fig. 11.7. Line current, I ij, at bus i is defined positive in the direction ij. (38) Let Sij, Sji be line powers defined positive into the line at bus i and j, respectively. (39) (40) The power loss in line (i-j) is the algebraic sum of the power flows determined from (39) and (40). (41)

Newton-Raphson (N-R) Method for Power-Flow Solution

The Newton-Raphson method enables us to replace the nonlinear set of power-flow equations of (23) with a linear set. We will show this after the basis for the method is explained. The Taylor series expansion of a function f(x) of a single variable, x, around the point (x-a) is given by (42)

where The series converges if .

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.10 If (x-a)

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

1 then we can neglect the higher-order terms and write (42) as (43)

For a function of n variables, one can expand around the point: (x1-a1), (x2-a2), (xn-an) with (xk-ak) 1 and k=1, 2,, n. Then, Eq. (42) becomes

(44) Let us consider a set of nonlinear equations, each a function of n variables:

(45) or Assume initial values and some correction, xk, which when added to x(0) yield x(1). When x(0) k k k are close to the solution, xk, the x(s) are small. k Using the approximate Taylors series, we have

(46) or, in matrix form,

(47)

or (48) where [J] is the Jacobian matrix. (49)

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.11

To continue iteration, find [X](1) from (50) Generally, (51) where k=iteration number.

The Newton-Raphson Method Applied to Power-Flow Equations

The N-R method is typically applied on the real form of the power-flow equations: (52)

(53) Assume, temporarily, that all busses, except bus 1, are of the load type. Thus, the . In terms of real variunknown parameters consist of the (n-1) voltage phasors, ables, these are:

Rewriting (47) for the power-flow equations,

(54)

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.12

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

Before proceeding any further, we need to account for voltage-controlled busses. For every voltage-controlled bus in the system, delete the corresponding row and column from the Jacobian matrix. This is done because the mismatch element for a voltage-controlled bus is unknown. Writing Eq. (54) in matrix form, (55) where = vector of power mismatches at initial guesses = the Jacobian matrix evalutated at the initial guesses = the error vector at the zeroth iteration

The N-R Algorithm

Step 0. Formulate and Assemble Ybus in Per Unit Step 1. Assign Initial Guesses to Unknown Voltage Magnitudes and Angles for a Flat Start

Step 2. Determine the Mismatch Vector U for Iteration k Step 3. Determine the Jacobian Matrix J for Iteration k Step 4. Determine Error Vector X from Eq. (55) Set X withinat iteration (k+1): X(k+1)=X(k)+ X(k). Check if the power mismatches are tolerance. If so, go to Step 5. Otherwise, go back to Step 2. Step 5. Find Slack Bus Power PG and QG from Eqs. (27) and (28) Step 6. Compute Line Flows Using Eqs. (39) and (40) and the Total Line Losses from Eq. (41)

EXAMPLE OF N-R SOLUTION

Consider the three-bus system shown in Fig. 11.8. Known quantities are also shown. Given: .

FIGURE 11.8 A three-bus example power system.

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11.13

Step 0.

Step 1.

Step 2.

(56)

(57)

(58)

(59) The specified bus powers are: P2S=0.6, P3S=-0.8, Q3S=-0.6. The calculated bus powers at this iteration are: cos (5.1.1 sin 90+4.1.1 sin 90+9.12 sin (90))=0. Therefore, the mismatches are P2=0.6; P3=-0.8; Q3=-0.6. Step 3. (60)

(61)

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.14

HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

(62) Therefore, at the initial guesses,

(63)

(64)

(65) (66)

(67)

(68)

After the row and column corresponding to bus 2 are eliminated:

Step 4. To solve the preceding equations, one can resort to inversion of the Jacobian matrix. However, computationally, it is more efficient to apply a numerical technique such as the Gaussian

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

11.15

elimination technique. The latter can be found in any textbook dealing with numerical analysis. This technique is applied next.

By back substitution,

Continue further iterations until convergence is achieved.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
The two solution strategies described here comprise the basic steps in a load-flow solution. The reader should be reminded that, occasionally, an off-nominal transformer, a capacitor, or other network devices also have to be modeled. Most of these models can be represented in the bus admittance matrix. Another practical consideration that one needs to bear in mind is that all generators have upper and lower limits of reactive power generation. Hence, if during a load flow iteration it is found that any one of the generators is violating its limits, then that particular bus where the generator is located is said to have lost voltage control and, thus, should be treated as a load bus in subsequent iterations. As is obvious from the two methods, computer-based analysis is essential for obtaining accurate load-flow solutions of any realistically sized power system. A computer- based analysis typically utilizes many numerical techniques, such as optimal ordering and sparsity techniques,

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LOAD-FLOW ANALYSIS IN POWER SYSTEMS

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HANDBOOK OF ELECTRIC POWER CALCULATIONS

in order to reduce memory and storage requirements. There are several excellent load-flow programs available that are widely used by engineers in utility companies for frequent system studies. While industry-grade load-flow software tends to be very expensive, there are now many educational versions of load-flow software available that are inexpensive and quite adequate for classroom use or for studying small-scale systems.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Elgerd, O.I. 1982. Electric Energy Systems TheoryAn Introduction, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Glover, J.D., and M. Sharma. 1994. Power System Analysis, and Design, 2nd ed. Boston: PWS Publishing. Grainger, J.J., and W.D. Stevenson. 1994. Power System Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill. Stott, B., and O. Alsac. 1974. Fast Decoupled Load Flow, IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus & Systems, Vol. PAS-93, pp. 859869.

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