Electric Power Systems Research 50 (1999) 227 236

A robust three phase power ow algorithm for radial distribution systems

D. Thukaram *,1, H.M. Wijekoon Banda, Jovitha Jerome
Electric Power Systems Management, Energy Program, School of En6ironment, Resources and De6elopment, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand Received 18 August 1998; received in revised form 27 October 1998; accepted 11 November 1998

Abstract An efcient load ow solution technique is required as a part of the distribution automation (DA) system for taking various control and operations decisions. This paper presents an efcient and robust three phase power ow algorithm for application to radial distribution networks. This method exploits the radial nature of the network and uses forward and backward propagation to calculate branch currents and node voltages. The proposed method has been tested to analyse several practical distribution networks of various voltage levels and also having high R/X ratio. The results for a practical distribution feeder are presented for illustration purposes. The application of the proposed method is also extended to nd optimum location for reactive power compensation and network reconguration for planning and day-to-day operation of distribution networks. 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Three phase load ow; Distribution automation; Capacitor placement; Network reconguration

1. Introduction Load ow is an important tool for the analysis of any power system and it is used in the operational as well as planning stages. The recent tendency towards the distribution automation (DA) has led researchers to develop the so-called control functions, which perform on-line predened tasks, either in emergency or normal conditions. These application programs require robust and efcient load ow solution method. Distribution systems are usually unbalanced due to unbalanced loading of the different phases. Therefore this requires detail modelling of special features such as multiphase, grounded or ungrounded, multi-mode control distribution equipment, unbalanced distribution loads etc. Once all these features are included in load ow model it is applicable to any three phase practical distribution system. Load ow analysis of distribution systems, specially for unbalanced condition has not received
* Corresponding author. E -mail address: dtram@ait.ac.th (D. Thukaram) 1 Presently on leave from Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560012, India.

much attention unlike load ow analysis of transmission systems. However, some work has been carried out on load ow analysis of distribution network [15]. But the choice of a solution method for a practical system is often difcult. Generally distribution networks are radial and its R/X ratio is very high. And also due to unbalance, distribution network matrices are ill conditioned and conventional load ow methods based on Gauss Siedel and NewtonRaphson techniques are inefcient in solving such networks. Recently many researchers have paid attention to obtain the load ow solution of distribution network. Chiang H.D. [1] has presented a load ow solution method for distribution system by iterative solution of three fundamental equations representing real power, reactive power and voltage magnitude. Renato et al. [2] proposed a method for obtaining load ow solutions of radial distribution networks, which seems to be quite promising. However, it gives solution to bus voltage magnitude only. D. Das et al. [3] have proposed a load ow solution method by writing a algebraic equation for bus voltage magnitude. However, these methods [13] are suitable for single phase analysis. A few researchers have proposed load

0378-7796/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 7 7 9 6 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 5 0 - 3

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ow solution techniques to analyse unbalanced distribution networks. D. Zimmerman et al. [4] have formulated load ow problem as a set of non-linear power mismatch equations as a function of the bus voltages. These equations have been solved by Newtons method. A three phase power ow solution method has been presented in reference [5] for real time application of distribution feeders. D. Thukaram et al. [6,7] have presented methods for power ow of radial distribution network and to nd the optimum location for reactive power compensation. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new formulation and solution algorithm for solving load ow of practical three phase distribution systems with many feeders emanating from grid substation with large number of nodes and branches. The proposed method considers all aspects of three phase modelling of branches and detailed load modelling. The solution technique is based on forward and backward propagation to calculate current in each branch and voltage at each node. Further, the method can be extended to nd optimal feeding point in a distribution network and reactive power compensation, network reconguration etc. The merits of the method are, guaranteed convergence even for heavily loaded network with poor voltage prole as low as below 0.5 pu and faster solution which is important in real time application. The method has been tested for practical systems and results for a typical feeder are presented for illustration purposes.

Fig. 1. Model of line section k.

where: Zaa, Zbb and Zcc = self impedence of phase A, phase B and phase C, respectively; Zab, Zbc and Zca, etc. mutual impedence between phases. If any phase of the line section does not exist, the corresponding row and column in the impedence matrix contain large value (theoretically innity) entries and in the admittance matrix corresponding row and column entries contain zero values. If we assume that the network is balanced then all the mutual impedence values are equal. Let the self and mutual impedence be Zs and Zm, respectively. Then the Eqs. (1) and (2) can be re-written as following:

Z s Z m Z m Zk = Z m Z s Z m Z m Z m Z s Ys Yk = Y m Y m
Ym Ys Ym Y m Y m Ys

(3)

2. Three phase model

2.1. Line branch model

Most of the distribution feeders consist of three phase overhead lines or underground cable sections. It has double-phase or single phase line sections towards the end of the feeder In the three phase power ow algorithm, we number each node or line section in the network by a single index, regardless of the number of phases of this node or line or line section. The impedence and shunt admittance of a line section k, shown in Fig. 1, are represented by 3 3 matrices as given in Eqs. (1) (4).

(4)

2.2. Load model

The three phase balanced/unbalanced loads can be represented as either constant power, or constant current, or constant impedence type or a combination of these based on the proportion of the type of consumer loads. There is no limitation on the type of load to be modelled in the proposed algorithm. The three phase load model is shown in Fig. 2.

Z aa, k Zk = Z ba, k Z ca, k Y aa, k Yk = Y ba, k Y ca, k

Z ab, k Z ac, k Z bb, k Z bc, k Z cb, k Z cc, k Y ab, k Y ac, k Y bb, k Y bc, k Y cb, k Y cc, k

(1)

(2)
Fig. 2. Three phase load model.

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Fig. 3. Basic steps in the proposed algorithm.

The loads can be modelled separately for each phase as follows:

2 lp Pload = P 0 load (A0 + A1V + A2V + A3V ) 2 lq Qload = Q 0 load(R0 + R1V + R2V + R3V )

(5) (6)

where: P 0 load real power of the total load at the given phase of node; Q 0 load, reactive power of the total load at the given phase of node; V, voltage magnitude of the given phase at the node; A0, R0, proportion of constant power component of the active and reactive load; A1, R1, proportion of constant current load component; A2, R2, proportion of constant impedence component of the active and reactive load; A3, R3, proportion of active and reactive loads proportional to V lp, V lq; and lp, lq, exponent of V based the actual load characteristics A0 + A1 + A2 + A3 = 1.0 R0 + R1 + R2 + R3 = 1.0

obtained in block B. Block D: Compute the difference between voltages in two successive iterations for convergence test. Block E: Computation of branch losses, total losses, total generation etc. A backward walk is achieved by starting at the end nodes (Children nodes) and passing backward over each section. A forward walk is achieved by starting at the source, which may be the substation of the feeder and passing forward over each section. 4. Optimal ordering of nodes to generate proper parent node child node path Node renumbering is the process of generating node numbers internally for feeder nodes, numbered arbitrarily and this is very useful particularly when the network is recongured using various switching options to meet the demand during different conguration. The process of node renumbering is explained considering the following sample distribution feeder shown in Fig. 4.

3. The approach The Fig. 3 shows the computational blocks in the approach. The load ow solution is found using methods of network ows (walks) along the tree in forward direction and backward direction. Each section of a radial distribution feeder is connected radially so that it has one predecessor (parent node) and possibly multiple descendants (Children nodes). In Block A, proper parent node-child node path is obtained. Block B: Computation of branch current using the currents towards child nodes and load at the node. Block C: Computation of nodal voltages with parent node voltage and voltage drop in the branches using branch currents

Fig. 4. Sample distribution feeder.

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D. Thukaram et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 50 (1999) 227236 Table 2 Summary of results for the feeder shown in Fig. 5 6 9 6 10 Item 60% loaded Fully loaded 702.00 646.20 684.90 339.99 312.97 331.71 2033.10 984.68 2946.48 1375.79 913.38 391.11 31.00 28.43 0.91

Table 1 Parent node child node for the feeder shown in Fig. 4 Parent node Child node 1 2 2 3 2 4 4 5 4 6 5 7 5 8

4.1. Steps for node renumbering 4.1.1. Step 1 In the sample network in Fig. 4, the node numbers encircled are the arbitrary numbers. The source node, substation is given the new number 1. The child node of branch from source is set to new number 2 (i.e. old 6, new 2). 4.1.2. Step 2 Search for branches connected to the rst branch. If a branch is found its parent node number is renumbered to new child node number of rst branch. i.e. In this step, parent nodes of branches (2) and (3) are given the number 2. Then children nodes of branches (2) and (3) are renumbered to 3 and 4, respectively. 4.1.3. Step 3 Again search for connection to node 5 renumbered as 3. As no branch is connected to this node it moves to search for branches connected to node 7 which is renumbered as node 4. Branches (4) and (7) are connected to this node. Therefore, parent nodes of

Load real power in phase A 421.20 (KW) Load real power in phase B (KW) 387.72 Load real power in phase C (KW) 410.94 Load reactive in phase A (KVAR) 204.00 Load reactive in phase B (KVAR) 187.78 Load reactive in phase C (KVAR) 199.03 Total load real power (KW) 1219.86 Total load reactive Power 590.81 (KVAR) Total feeder real power (KW) 1414.16 Total feeder reactive power 673.99 (KVAR) Total feeder real power loss (KW) 194.30 Total feeder reactive power loss 83.18 (KVAR) Percentage real power loss% 13.74 Percentage reactive power loss% 12.34 Feeder power factor 0.90

branches (4) and (7) are set to 4. The children nodes of these branches are renumbered to 5 and 6, respectively.

4.1.4. Step 4 The above method is followed for the other branches and the nodes are renumbered accordingly. Square boxes show the optimally ordered feeder nodes with bolded numbers in Fig. 4.

Fig. 5. A practical distribution feeder in India.

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4.2. Forward backward propagation path

Referring to the Fig. 4 and the new numbers, the following Table 1, showing source (parent) node to load (child) node is obtained. The table is arranged to give the forward path from source to load or parent to child and backward path from load to source or child to parent. From the table the backward path: 10-6, 9-6, 8-5, 7-5, 6-4, 5-4, 4-2, 3-2 and 2-1. Forward path: 1-2, 2-3, 2-4, 4-5, 4-6, 5-7, 5-8, 6-9 and 6-10.

Backward propagation starts from branch 10-6 and proceeds along the path 9-6, 8-5, 7-5, 6-4, 5-4, 4-2, 3-2 and 2-1. During this propagation the load current is calculated using the Eqs. (7)(9), depending on the load type. The half line charging shunt currents of all the branches at the node are added to the load current. Once the child node current is calculated, the parent branch current is updated using Eq. (10). For constant power loads the load current at i th child node is given by Eq. (7).

I La(i ) S La(i )/Va(i )* I Lb(i ) = S Lb(i )/Va(i ) I Lc(i ) S Lc(i )/Va(i )

(7)

5. Iterative scheme Initially all the node voltage magnitudes are set to 1.0 pu and voltage angles are set to 0.0, 120, 120 degrees for phases A, B and C, respectively. (i.e. VM (i ) = 1.0 pu and VA (i ) = 0.0, 120, 120 for phases A, B and C, respectively, for all i = 1, 2, 3, 4,, 10). And also all the branch currents (complex) are set to (0.0, 0.0) pu V (1) is the source node and its value is assumed to be known. Also its angle l = 0 (taken as reference).

For constant current load, the load current is same as the given load

I La(i ) I Lb(i ) = Constant (Given) I Lc(i )

(8)

For constant impedence load, the load current at i th node is given by

5.1. Backward propagation

The purpose of the backward propagation is to calculate branch current in each section, by initially assuming nominal voltage at each node. That is, during backward propagation, voltage values are held constant and information about currents are transmitted backward along the feeder using backward walk.
Table 3 Quantitative unbalanced under different loading condition For 60% loading Node 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 MV0 0.237 0.607 0.212 0.230 0.199 0.237 0.106 0.107 0.352 0.430 0.370 0.601 0.425 0.470 0.597 0.364 0.439 0.494 MV2 0.095 0.246 0.084 0.093 0.077 0.094 0.037 0.065 0.175 0.208 0.184 0.280 0.207 0.225 0.252 0.182 0.214 0.232 For 100% loading MV0 0.405 0.738 0.680 0.616 0.901 0.821 1.681 2.991 5.227 5.611 5.607 6.257 5.664 6.395 6.768 5.577 5.883 6.706 MV2 0.317 0.390 0.533 0.508 0.690 0.662 1.179 1.949 3.311 3.537 3.545 3.897 3.582 3.999 4.067 3.576 3.726 4.182

I La(i ) V a (i )/ZLa(i )* I Lb(i ) = V b (i )/ZLb(i ) I Lc(i ) V c (i )/ZLc(i )

(9)

where: ILa(i ), ILb(i ), ILc(i ) = Load current at i th node for constant power loads; SLa(i ), SLb(i ), SLc(i ) = Complex power of constant power load at i th node; and Zla, Zlb, ZLc = Impedence of constant impedence load at i th node

For 60% loading Branch 12 23 24 45 46 67 68 89 910 1011 1012 1113 1114 1215 1216 1417 1418 1519 MI0 2.06 20.58 0.72 10.65 0.83 6.34 1.40 2.40 2.00 6.71 3.49 11.54 3.30 3.88 10.24 9.81 1.18 9.86 MI2 2.06 20.99 0.69 10.75 0.79 6.47 1.51 2.59 2.23 6.90 3.62 11.86 3.29 4.13 10.47 9.69 1.40 9.90

For 60% loading MI0 1.61 20.44 2.95 10.06 3.08 5.56 4.16 5.26 5.08 8.63 6.06 14.04 2.69 7.10 12.94 6.26 3.98 11.42 MI2 3.15 21.04 4.71 9.95 4.97 5.42 6.28 7.54 7.59 10.53 8.29 16.64 4.26 9.78 15.02 4.33 6.35 12.40

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Table 4 Merit order of the feeding point for the feeder shown in Fig. 5 Merit order Node no. Real power loss (kW) (approximate) 37.24 39.79 48.77 49.96 51.81 62.08 65.33 73.86 90.84 106.17 Reactive power loss (KVAR) (approximate) 15.72 16.82 20.68 21.20 21.99 26.41 27.81 31.48 38.78 39.42 Merit order Node no. Real power loss (kW) (approximate) 106.38 109.58 112.49 138.24 148.82 158.39 163.82 171.29 192.94 Reactive power loss (KVAR) (approximate) 40.72 46.85 48.10 59.18 51.06 52.01 70.18 55.50 67.80

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10 9 12 11 8 14 6 4 2 7

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

5 15 17 1 18 13 19 16 3

D. Thukaram et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 50 (1999) 227236 Table 5 Conductor data Conductor type 1 2 Base voltage = 11 kV, Base KVA = 1000 Conductor name ACSRWSL WEASAL Resistance (PU/km) 0.008600 0.012950 Reactance (PU/km) 0.003700 0.003680

233

I a(m ) i La(i ) I ap I b(m ) = i Lb(i ) + % I bp I c(m ) i Lc(i ) pmM I cp V a(i ) + % [Ysh]V b(i ) pmM V c(i )
(10)

gation are invoked during each iteration of load ow computations. The convergence criteria is that, Voltage magnitude at each node is compared with its previous iteration value. Therefore the voltage mismatch for j th node during k th iteration is given by following equation.
k k1 DV k ( j) p( j ) = V p( j ) V p

for p = a, b and c

(12) (13) (14)

Where Ia(m ), Ib(m ) and Ic(m ) are branch current of line section (m ) and ia, ib ic are current in branch m before updating and M is the set of line sections connected to m th branch (for an example if we consider node 5, m = 4 and p = 5, 6).

Real (DV ( j )) B eps Imag (DV(j)) B eps

jm all the nodes jm all the nodes

5.2. Iterati6e scheme forward propagation

The purpose of forward propagation is to calculate the voltage at each node starting from the child node of feeder source branch. The feeder substation voltage is set to its actual value (measured voltage). During forward propagation the current in each branch is held constant to the value obtained in backward walk. The node voltages are calculated using the Eq. (11), starting from the source and proceeding along the path 1-2, 2-3, 2-4, 4-5, 4-6, 5-7, 5-8, 6-9 and 6-10.

If both the Eqs. (13) and (14) are satised the propagation is stopped. Otherwise iterative process is repeated. Once the load ow solution is converged all the branch currents and voltage at each node are known. The real and reactive power loss can be calculated.

5.4. Quantitati6e analysis of unbalance

The quantitative unbalance of voltage at node j and quantitative unbalance in current of branch m are dened as; MV0( j ) = V0( j )/V1( j ) MV2( j ) = V2( j )/V1( j ) MI0(m ) = I0(m )/I1(m ) MI2(m ) = I2(m )/I1(m ) (17) (18) (19) (20)

V a( j ) V a(i ) V b( j ) = V b(i ) V c( j ) V c(i )

Z aa, m Z ab, m Z ac, m I a(m ) Z ba, m Z bb, m Z bc, m I b(m ) Z ca, m Z cb, m Z cc, m I c(m ) V a(i ) [Ysh]V b(i ) V c(i )
(11)

where j = 2, 3, nd (number of nodes), m = 1, 2, 3, nbr (number of branches). The sequence component of voltage and current can be computed using Eqs. (21) and (22), respectively.

V 0( j ) V a( j ) V 1( j ) = (1/3)* [T ]V b( j ) V 2( j ) V c( j ) I 0(m ) I a(m ) I 1(m ) = (1/3)* [T ]I b(m ) I 2(m ) I c(m )

(21)

(22)

where: j, i are parent and child (source and load) nodes of m th branch.

5.3. Con6ergence criteria

The steps outlined for backward and forward propa-

where T is the transformation matrix for symmetrical components. V0( j ), V1( j ), V2( j ) are the zero, positive and negative sequence voltages at j th node and I0(m ), I1(m ), I2(m ) are the sequence current in m th branch.

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6. Sample system studies and results. Based on the proposed algorithm a computer program has been developed and tested on a few large networks. Results are presented for a distribution system shown in Fig. 5 which is a practical distribution feeder emanating from Pathardhi 132/11kV-grid substation in India. The network and load data are given in Tables 57. The r/x ratio for conductor type 1 is 2.32 and it is 3.52 for conductor type 2. Two cases one, when transformers are loaded to 60% and two, when transformers are fully loaded are considered. These results are presented in Tables 2 4. The results show that the total real power loss for 60% loading is 194.3 kW (13.74%) and it is 913.38kW (31.0%) at the fully loaded condition. The minimum voltage found is 0.808 pu for 60% loading in phase B and 0.550pu in phase B for fully loaded condition. It is found from the results that the unbalanced in branch currents are as high as 20% in some branches. The proposed technique required only three iterations for 60% loading and four iterations for fully loaded condition for convergence (Figs. 6 and 7).

The same feeder shown in Fig. 5 is analysed to nd the merit order of the feeding nodes for fully loaded condition and load ow was performed for only one iteration. The merit order for the given loading condition is presented in Table 4. The loss values shown are for one iteration of the load ow, which is an approximate solution. It is to be noted that although the loss values are inaccurate, the merit order obtained for the nodes remain the same when a fully converged load ow solution is used for this purpose. The node 10 is the best location for reactive power compensation. As we are performing only one iteration the CPU time taken for a larger system will also be in the range of millisecond.

6.2. Application to network reconguration

The proposed load ow technique can be extended for network reconguration, as it is efcient and robust for analysing larger distribution system with higher number of nodes. First we can dene the switching option with the available switches and total system losses can be calculated for each switching option. These loss values are arranged in merit order to obtain the optimum conguration.

6.1. Application to nd optimum location for reacti6e power compensation

The application of the proposed load ow solution method has also been demonstrated for reactive power compensation and network reconguration in distribution system. The candidate location for reactive power compensation can be dened as the location where the feeder losses are minimum when it is considered as the feeding source. Here the load ow is performed for one iteration at each node as possible feeding node and the losses are calculated. Then these losses are arranged in ascending order. The node, which is at the top of the merit order, is the optimum feeding node and it is the best location for reactive power compensation. Due to some geographical or other reason, if the rst node in merit order is not suitable, the next node in the list is selected.
Table 6 Branch data for the feeder shown in Fig. 5 From bus 1 2 2 4 4 6 6 8 9 To bus 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Con. type 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 Length (km) 3.00 5.00 1.50 1.50 1.00 2.00 2.50 3.00 5.00

7. Conclusions An efcient and robust three phase load ow solution technique based on backward and forward propagation, has been proposed and tested for a practical radial distribution network. The technique always guarantees the convergence and it is suitable to real time operation of distribution network. Several practical large distribution feeders have also been analysed using this technique, such as the distribution system of Uva province in Sri Lanka. This system has one 132/33 kV-grid substation and four feeders with 344 nodes. The CPU time taken for the proposed method is approximately half the time required for the method given in reference [3] and thus the proposed method is more

From bus 10 11 11 14 14 10 12 12 15

To bus 11 14 13 17 18 12 16 15 19

Con. type 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1

Length (km) 1.50 1.00 5.00 3.50 4.00 1.50 6.00 5.00 4.00

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Table 7 Load data for the feeder shown in Fig. 5 under unbalanced condition Node no. Load in phase A Load in phase B (KVA) (KVA) 64.0 68.0 25.0 40.0 26.0 60.0 46.0 76.0 21.0 32.0 32.0 35.0 32.0 19.0 50.0 33.0 92.0 26.0 Load in phase B (KVA) 64.0 60.0 40.0 28.0 18.0 50.0 21.0 82.0 16.0 Trans. capacity (KVA) 160 160 100 100 63 160 100 250 63 Node no. Load in phase A (KVA) 46.0 60.0 27.0 19.0 27.0 48.0 40.0 33.0 54.0 Load in phase B (KVA) 46.0 50.0 33.0 19.0 30.0 64.0 30.0 33.0 62.0 Load in phase B (KVA) 68.0 50.0 40.0 25.0 43.0 48.0 30.0 34.0 44.0 Trans. capacity (KVA) 160 160 100 63 100 160 100 100 160

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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D. Thukaram et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 50 (1999) 227236

Fig. 6. Voltage prole for 60% loading condition.

Fig. 7. Voltage prole in each phase for 100% loading.

efcient. The applications of proposed method to reactive power compensation and network reconguration has also been demonstrated.

References
[1] H.D. Chiang, A fast decoupled load ow method for distribution power network: Algorithms analysis and convergence study, Int. J. Electr. Power Syst. 13 (3) (1991) 130138. [2] C.G. Renatoe, New method for the analysis of distribution networks, IEEE Trans. PWRD 5 (1) (1990) 391396. [3] D. Das, P. Kothari, A Kalam, Simple and efcient method for load ow solution of radial distribution networks, Electr. Power

Energy Syst. 17 (5) (1995) 335 346. [4] D. Zimmerman, H.D. Chiang, A fast decoupled power ow for unbalanced radial distribution systems, IEEE Trans. Powers Syst. 10 (4) (1995) 2045 2052. [5] C.S. Cheng, D. Shirmohammadi, A three phase power ow method for real time distribution system analysis, IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 10 (2) 1995, 671 679. [6] D. Thukaram, K. Parthasarathy, B.S. Ramakrishna Iyengar, Simple algorithms for reactive power planning in transmission and distribution systems, in: 52nd Research and Development Session, Aurangabad, February 1985, 29 39. [7] N. Udupa, D. Thukaram, K. Parthasarathy, G.S. Raju, Computer aided algorithms for distribution system planning and improvements, in: Proceedings of the VIII National Power Systems Conference, NPSC 94, December, 1994, 779 784.