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Loadflow
Formulation of the loadflow problem. GaussSeidel, NewtonRaphson, and Stott's algorithm.
Calculation of line flows, system losses, and area interchange.
1 Formulation of the Problem
The loadflow problem is one of the classic power system engineering problems. During the
early days of digital computers, many advances in techniques for solving large sets of equations
were brought about specifically to help solve the loadflow problem.
In most electrical circuit analyses, the network consists of known impedances, voltage sources,
and current sources. However, in the loadflow problem, active and reactive powers, rather than
shunt impedances, are specified at most network busses, because most loads behave, on average,
as constant power loads (active and reactive power), as long as their applied voltage remains
within reasonable ranges. Consider, for example, the air conditioning load of a building. A
certain amount of energy is required to maintain T between inside and outside temperatures.
Even though the air conditioner cycles onandoff, and the voltage may change slightly, the air
conditioning load appears, on the average, as a fixed power load, rather than as a fixed
impedance load.
Power system loads are closely monitored at substations, at large customers, and for total electric
utility companies. Loads tend to have predictable daily, weekly, and seasonal patterns. Annual
peak demands and energies for electric utilities are forecasted for generation and planning
purposes.
Most loadflows model threephase balanced systems. Positivesequence values, usually in per
unit, represent R, L, C, P, Q, S, Ω, V, and I.
The purpose of the loadflow program is to compute bus voltages and line/transformer/cable
power flows once network topology, impedances, loads, and generators have been specified.
Ideally, the computed bus voltages for the study system should remain within acceptable ranges,
and line/transformer/cable power flows should be below their rated values, for a reasonable set
of outage contingencies.
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assume any value so that it "makes up" system losses. The swing bus is usually a centrally
located large generator whose voltage magnitude and phase angle (usually = zero) are
specified.
Although any two of the four parameters can be specified, the usual way in which power system
busses are classified is given in Table 1.
Table 1. Loadflow Classification of Power System Busses
The loadflow program solves for the set of unknowns that produces power balance at all busses,
or as illustrated for bus i in Figure 1,
where
Picalc jQicalc Vi I i* .
In other words, the power specified at each bus must equal the power flowing into the system.
Note in Figure 1 that specified power is drawn as positive generation, to be consistent with KCL
equation YV=I.
Total Current Flowing From Bus i into the System is
I = IB1 + IB2 + IB3
i
IB1
Bus i
Branch
|Vi | i
Currents IB2
Into spec spec *
System P + jQ
i = V I
i i
i
IB3
Figure 1. Power Balance for Bus i
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Since there are two unknowns at every bus, the size of the loadflow problem is 2N, where N is
the number of busses. Obviously, to solve the problem, there must be two equations for every
bus. These come from KCL, which for any bus i have the form
*
N
Pi spec
jQispec Picalc jQicalc Vi I i* Vi yi , j V j .
j 1
Separating into real and imaginary components yields two equations for bus i,
N
Pispec Vi
y i , j V j cos i j i , j ,
j 1
N
Qispec Vi
yi , j V j sin i j i , j ,
j 1
where Vi Vi i , V j V j j , y i , j y i , j i , j .
The problem now is now to find the set of bus voltages that satisfies the above 2N equations.
2. GaussSeidel Method
GaussSeidel is an early formulation of the loadflow problem that requires little memory and it is
easily programmed. However, it is usually slower than other methods. It is based upon the idea
of expanding the complex form of the power balance equation as follows:
* *
N N
Pi spec
jQispec Vi I i* Vi yi , jV j Vi yi , iVi yi , j V j ,
j 1 j 1, j i
or
N
Pispec jQispec Vi* y i , iVi Vi* yi, jV j ,
j 1, j i
so that
1 Pi
spec
jQispec N
Vi yi , jV j .
yi , i
Vi* j 1, j i
The solution procedure is to:
1. Initialize the bus voltages. For load busses, use V = 1 + j0. For generator busses
(including the swing bus), use V Vspec j 0 .
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2. Onebyone, update the individual bus voltages using
1 Pi
spec
jQispec N
Vi y i , jV j .
yi , i
Vi* j 1, j i
For PV busses, update the voltage angle, while holding the voltage magnitude constant at
the specified value. Do not update the swing bus.
3. Check the mismatch P and Q at each bus. If all are within tolerance (typical tolerance is
0.00001 pu), a solution has been found. Otherwise, return to Step 2.
Convergence is usually faster if an acceleration factor is used. For example, assume that the
voltage at bus i at iteration m is Vim , and that the updating equation in Step 2 computes V jnew .
Instead of using V jnew directly, accelerate the update with
Vim 1 Vim Vinew Vim ,
where acceleration factor is in the range of 1.2 to 1.6.
3 NewtonRaphson Method
The NewtonRaphson method is a very powerful loadflow solution technique that incorporates
firstderivative information when computing voltage updates. Normally, only 3 to 5 iterations
are required to solve the loadflow problem, regardless of system size. NewtonRaphson is the
most commonly used loadflow solution technique.
An easy way to illustrate the NewtonRaphson technique is to solve a simple equation whose
answers are already known. For example, consider
x 1 x 99 0 ,
which when expanded becomes
x 2 100 x 99 0 .
The objective is to find x so that
f ( x) x 2 100 x 99 0 .
Of course, in this case, the two solutions are known a priori as x = 1, and x = 99.
The NewtonRaphson procedure is based on Taylor's expansion, truncated past the first
derivative, which gives
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f ( x)
f ( x x) f ( x) x .
x x
Clearly, the above equation gives a straightline approximation for f ( x x ) .
f ( x x ) f ( x )
x
f ( x) ,
x x
which for this example is
0 f ( x) f ( x)
x
f ( x ) f ( x) .
x x x x
The update equation for iteration (m + 1) is then
f ( x ( m) )
x ( m 1) x ( m) x x ( m)
f ( x) ,
x x ( m)
where in this example
f ( x)
2 x 100 .
x
If a starting point of x = 2 is chosen, then the solution proceeds as follows:
f ( x )
Iteration m x f(x)
x
0 2 97 96
Additional iterations can be performed if tighter solution tolerance is needed. Note that if a
starting point of x = 50 had been chosen, the partial derivative would have been zero, and the
method would have failed.
If x = 80 is the starting point, then the process yields the following:
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f ( x )
Iteration m x f(x)
x
0 80 1501 60
3 99.00 0 98.00
Therefore, the starting point greatly affects the ability of a NewtonRaphson method to converge,
and the answer to which it converges. Fortunately, in the loadflow problem, most voltages are
near 1.0 pu in magnitude and 0.0 degrees, so that we are able to accurately estimate starting
values.
For the loadflow problem, the NewtonRaphson method is expanded in matrix form. For
example, consider a set of N nonlinear equations and N unknowns,
f1 x1 , x 2 , , x N y1
f 2 x1 , x 2 , , x N y2
.
f N x1 , x 2 , , x N yN
Applying Taylor's theorem as before, truncated after the first derivative, yields for Row i
yi f i x1(0) x1 , x 2(0) x 2 ,, x (N0) x N f i x1(0) , x 2(0) , , x N
( 0)
f i f i f i
+ x1 x x 2
x 2
x N
x N ,
1 x ( 0) x ( 0) x ( 0)
( 0) ( 0) ( 0)
where x(0) represents the starting estimate set x1 , x 2 , , x N .
N similar equations in matrix form are
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or
y
1
f1 x1(0) , x 2(0) , , x N(0) x1
y2
( 0) ( 0)
f 2 x1 , x2 , , x N ( 0)
x
J ,
2
( 0 ) ( 0) ( 0)
yN
f N x1 , x2 ,, x N x N
where J is an N x N matrix of partial derivatives, known as the Jacobian matrix. Therefore, in an
iterative procedure, the above equation is used to update the X vector according to
X ( m 1) X ( m) X ( m) X ( m) J ( m) Y
1
spec Y ( m) ,
where
y1
f x ( m) , x ( m) , , x ( m)
1 1
.
2 N
y
f x , x 2 ,, x N(m)
( m) ( m)
Yspec 2 , Y (m) 2 1
yN f N x , x m) , , x ( m)
( m ) (
1 2 N
In the loadflow problem, the matrix update equation is symbolically written in mixed
rectangularpolar form as
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P
1spec
m)
P1(calc m 1 m
1 m 1 1
( m )
P2spec P2calc 2 2 m
PNspec P (m) J1 P J 2 P N m 1 N m
Ncalc V
Q ( m) J 3
Q
J4
Q
m 1 m
Q V V
1spec 1calc V 1
m 1
1
m
Q2spec Q ( m ) V2 V2
2calc
m 1 m
Q Q ( m) V V
Nspec Ncalc N N
or, in abbreviated form,
P J 1 J 2
Q J .
J 4 V
3
In highly inductive power systems, P is closely related to voltage angles, and Q is closely related
to voltage magnitudes. Therefore, in the above mixed rectangularpolar formulation, the terms in
J 1 and J 4 tend to have larger magnitudes than those in J 2 and J 3 . This feature makes the
Jacobian matrix more diagonally dominant, which improves robustness when Gaussian
eliminating or LU decomposing J.
The above formulation of the Jacobian matrix is often modified to take advantage of symmetry
in the partial derivatives. This modification is
1 P P
P V V V
Q 1 Q Q
.
V
V V
The partial derivatives are derived from
N
Picalc Vi
yi , j V j cos i j i , j ,
j 1
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N
Qicalc Vi
yi , j V j sin i j i , j ,
j 1
and have the following form
For J1 ,
Pi N
i
Vi yi, j V j sin i j i, j
j 1, j i
Pi
Vi yi , k Vk sin i k i, k , k i .
k
For J 2 ,
Pi N
Vi
yi , j V j
cos i j i , j 2 Vi yi , i cos i , i
j 1, j i
Pi
Vi yi, k cos i k i , k , k i .
Vk
For J 3 ,
Qi N
i
Vi
yi , j V j cos i j i , j
j 1, j i
Qi
Vi yi , k Vk cos i k i , k , k i .
k
For J 4 ,
Qi N
Vi
yi, j
V j sin i j i , j 2 Vi yi, i sin i, i
j 1, j i
Qi
Vi yi , k sin i k i, k , k i .
Vk
Pi N
Vi i
yi , j V j sin i j i , j
j 1, j i
Pi
Vi yi, k sin i k i , k , k i .
Vk k
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and for J 3 ,
Qi N
Vi i
yi , j V j
cos i j i , j
j 1, j i
Qi
yi , k Vk cos i k i , k , k i .
Vi k
and there is even more symmetry in J.
P1 V1 1
Q
1 V1
P2 V2 2
Q2 J V2 .
PN V N N
Q V
N N
The solution procedure for the NewtonRaphson loadflow proceeds with:
1. Initialize the bus voltages. For load busses, use V = 1 + j0. For generator busses
(including the swing bus), use V Vspec j 0 .
2. Form the Jacobian matrix, and update all bus voltage magnitudes and phase angles,
except for those at the swing bus, and except for the voltage magnitudes at PV busses.
3. Check the mismatch P and Q at each bus. If all are within tolerance (typical tolerance is
0.00001 pu), a solution has been found. Otherwise, return to Step 2.
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4 Stott's Algorithm
Stott's algorithm takes advantage of the strong decoupling of P and Q that occurs in most high
voltage power systems. His formulation is based upon the assumption that P is primarily related
to , and that Q is primarily related to V .
He begins by writing the expression for power at bus i, which is
*
N
Picalc jQicalc Vi y i , jV j .
j 1
He then defines
yi , j Gi , j jBi, j .
Expanding the power expression yields
N
Picalc jQicalc Vi i Vi j Gi , j jBi , j ,
j 1
or, expanding in real and imaginary form
N
Picalc Vi V j Gi, j cos i, j Bi, j sin i, j
j 1
N
Qicalc Vi V j Gi, j sin i, j Bi, j cos i, j ,
j 1
where i , j i j .
From the above equations, the necessary loadflow partial derivatives are
Pi
j
Vi V j Gi, j sin i , j Bi, j cos i , j ,
j i
and
N
Pi
i
Vi V j Gi , j sin i , j Bi , j cos i , j ,
j 1, j i
which, by comparing to the Q equation simplifies to
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Pi
i
Qi Vi Gi, i sin i , i Bi , j cos i , i = Qi
2
Vi
2
Bi , i .
Similarly, for Q,
Qi 1 Pi
V j j j i ,
Vi Gi , j sin i , j Bi , j cos i , j
Vj
j i
and
N
Qi
Vi
V j Gi, j sin i, j Bi, j cos i, j 2 Vi Gi, i sin i, i Bi, i cos i, i .
j 1, j i
After simplifying, the above equation becomes
Qi Q
i Vi Bi, i .
Vi Vi
The form of the Jacobian update equation is now
P H 0
Q 0 1 ,
L V
V
where
H i , j Li , j Vi V j Gi , j sin i , j Bi , j cos i , j , i j ,
,
2
H i , i Qi Vi Bi , i
Bi , i .
2
Li , i Qi Vi
Now, since the angular differences are small, then cos i , j sin i, j . In reactive power
systems, Bi, j Gi, j , so that Bi , j cos i, j Gi , j sin i , j . Also, in most cases, Bi, i Qi
, so that Vi Bi, i Qi . Substituting these approximations into the above expressions for H
2
and L yields
H i , j Li , j Vi V j Bi , j ,
Bi , i .
2
H i , i Li , i Vi
These lead to the following simple form of the update equation:
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V1 0 B1,1
0 B1,2 B1, N
V1 0 0 1
0 V B B 2, 2
B 2, N
P 2 0
2,1 0 V2 0 2
0 0 V N B N ,1 B N ,2 B N , N 0 0 V N N
VB 'V ,
V1
V1 0 0 B1,1 B1,2 B1, N V1 0 0 V1
0 V 0 B B 2, 2 B2, N 0 V2 0 V2
Q 2 2,1
V2
0 0 V N B N ,1 B N ,2 B N , N 0 0 V N V N
N
V
V
VB ''V .
V
Stott proposes the following additional simplifications:
2. Omit from B'' the angleshifting effects of phaseshifting transformers, which primarily
affect MW flows.
3. Since the voltage magnitudes are close to unity, write
P
V
'
B V B (first onehalf iteration),
'
and
Q
V
'' V
B V
V
''
B V (second onehalf iteration).
4. Neglect series resistances when calculating B'.
At this point, B' and B'' remain constant throughout the solution. Therefore, B' and B'' should be
LU decomposed once, and reused for each half iteration. The solutions steps are
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1. LU decompose B' and B''.
P
2. Calculate .
V
3. Update using
P
V
'
B .
4. Check convergence, and continue if not converged.
Q
5. Calculate .
V
6. Update V using
Q
V
B V
''
7. Check convergence, and return to Step 2 if not converged.
5. Other Considerations
Current and Power Flow in Transmission Lines and Cables
Once the bus voltages throughout the system have been calculated, then the loadflow program
must calculate power flows through lines/transformers/cables. The standard piequivalent
models are used for this purpose as follows:
R jX
Vj/ j Vk/ k
Ijk Ikj
Icapj Icapk
Q(pu) Q(pu)
2 2
,
so from side j, I jk
V j j Vk k
R jX
Vj
Q
2
j 90 0 ,
and from side k, I kj
Vk k V j j
R jX
Vk
Q
2
k 90 0 .
Note that the current on the two opposite ends of the line are not exactly the same due to the fact
that the capacitor currents are not, in general, equal to each other. The power flows for the two
ends of the line, directed inward, are S jk V jk I *jk , S kj Vkj I kj
*
.
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Transmission line values for R, X (or L), and line charging Q (or C), shown on the previous
diagram, are entered in per unit for the entire length of the line. The relationship between these
parameters and the permeter calculations developed in the transmission line chapter follow.
R and X = ωL are the positivesequence per meter values of the transmission line (e.g.,
resistance of a phase bundle per meter, and ωL where L is approximately 1 mH per km),
multiplied by the length of the transmission line, and converted to per unit ohms.
C is the positivesequence capacitance per meter of the transmission line, multiplied by
the length of the transmission line. Using C, then line charging Q is computed using base
voltage with Q 3CV LN
2
CV LL2
. Then, Q is converted to per unit, and half is
placed on each end of the transmission line. For a 345kV line at 60 Hz, and assuming 12
pF per meter, Q is about 0.538 MVAr per km. The corresponding capacitive current to
energize the line is then 0.90 A per km.
One per unit Q corresponds to one per unit admittance Y. It is standard practice in
loadflows to represent Q/2 on each end of a line as an admittance jQ/2 (in per unit). For
the above example, and using a 100 MVA base, the line charging Q of a 100 km
transmission would be 53.8 MVAr, and it would be modeled internally in the loadflow as
admittances j0.269 pu mhos on each end.
Current and Power Flow in Transformers
The transformer equivalent circuit taken from Section 3 is
Bus k' y Vk/ k
Vj/j t / :1
Bus k
Ijk Ikj
Bus j
V j j
so for side k, I kj Vk k y
t ,
I kj
and for side j, I jk .
t
.
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Area Interchange
Largescale power systems usually consist of several, or perhaps many, individual electric utility
companies. In these cases, each area may have a desired net input or output power to satisfy
sales and purchase agreements.
The area interchange feature in a loadflow program sums the tieline flows into each area for a
net area power input. If these nets are not the desired values, to within a few megawatts, then an
areacontrol generator within the area is adjusted by the error amount. The sum of all input
powers for all areas must, of course, be zero.
Convergence Criteria
Most loadflow data cases are developed using a 100 MVA base, so that a 1% load corresponds to
1 MW. A typical convergence criteria is that the highest individual bus P and Q mismatches are
within 0.001 0.01%, or 0.00001 0.0001 pu.
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