Power Flow Outline

• System model
• Equations
• Solution techniques:
– Newton-Raphson
– Fast Decoupled
• Examples:
– Matlab
– PSAT
• Optimization approach

1
 Power Flow Model
• The steady state operating point of a power
system is obtained by solving the “power
flow” equations.
• Power flow system model corresponds to the
steady state model.
• Generator:
– Generates and injects power P in the system
while keeping the output voltage V constant
within active and reactive power limits (capability
curve):

2
 Power Flow Model
– Thus, it’s modeled as a PV bus:

– When Q reaches a limit it becomes a PQ bus:

3
 Power Flow Model
• Slack bus:
– The phasor model needs a reference bus.
– A “large” generator is typically chosen as the
reference bus, as it should be able to take the
power “slack”:

4
 Power Flow Model
– Hence, if Q reaches a limit:

5
 Power Flow Model
• Load:
– Loads are typically connected to the
transmission system through ULTC
transformers.
– Thus, most loads in steady state represent a
constant power demand in the system, and
hence are modeled as a PQ bus:

6
 Power Flow Model
• Transmission system:
– AC transmission lines and transformers in
steady state are basically modeled using the
following model:

7
 Power Flow Model
– Hence:

– Similarly for Sk.

8
 Power Flow Model
– Thus, for an N bus system interconnected through an ac
transmission system, an NxN bus admittance matrix can be
defined:

9
 Power Flow Equations
• In steady state, a system with n generators G
and m loads L can then be modeled as:

10
 Power Flow Equations
• Hence, the power injections at each node
are defined by:

11
 Power Flow Equations
• This yields two equations per node or bus:

• And two variables per node:

– PQ buses → Vi and δi
– PV buses → δi and Qi
– Slack bus → Pi and Qi

12
 Power Flow Equations
• These equations are referred to as the
power mismatch equations.
• The equations are typically subjected to
inequality constraints representing control
limits:

13
 Power Flow Solution
• The power flow equations are known can be
represented as:

• There are 2 equations per bus, with 2 known

variables and 2 unknown variables per bus; the
problem is of dimension 2N.
• Since these equations are highly nonlinear due to
the sine and cosine terms, Newton-Raphson (NR)
based numerical techniques are used to solve
them.

14
 Power Flow Solution
• A “robust” NR technique may be used to solve
these equations:
1. Start with an initial guess, typically Vi0=1,
δi0=0, QGi0=0, Pslack0=0 (flat start).
2. At each iteration k (k = 0,1,2,…), compute
the “sparse” Jacobian matrix:

15
 Power Flow Solution
3. Find ∆ zk by solving the following linear set
of equations (the sparse matrix Jk is
factorized and not inverted to speed up the
solution process):

4. Compute the new guess for the next

iteration, where α is a step control constant
to guarantee convergence (0 < α ≤ 1):

16
 Power Flow Solution
5. Stop when:

• This is basically the technique used in

MATLAB’s fsolve() routine, based on
either numerical or actual Jacobians.

17
 Example 1
• For the following system:

V1 = 1, δ1 = 0o, V2 = 1, V3 = 1, and P2 = P1/2.

Determine the voltage phasor angles δ2 and δ3
and the shunt Q by solving the PF equations.

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 Example 1
– The Ybus matrix is:

19
 Example 1
– The mismatch equations are then:

20
Example 1

21
Example 1

22
 Example 1
– Power flow equations in MATLAB format (PFeqs.m), where
lambda is used to simulate constant power factor load
changes: function F = function(z)
%
% 3-bus example Power Flow equations
% Flat start: z0=[0 0 0 0 0 0];
%
global lambda

d2=z(1);
d3=z(2);
P1=z(3);
Q1=z(4);
Q2=z(5);
Q =z(6);

F(1,1) = P1 +10*sin(d2) + 10*sin(d3);

F(2,1) = Q1 - 19.8 + 10*cos(d2)+ 10*cos(d3);
F(3,1) = 0.5*P1 - 10*sin(d2) - 10*sin(d2-d3);
F(4,1) = Q2 + 10*cos(d2) - 19.8 + 10*cos(d2-d3);
F(5,1) = -0.9*lambda - 10*sin(d3) - 10*sin(d3-d2);
F(6,1) = Q -0.436*lambda + 10*cos(d3) + 10*cos(d3-d2) -19.8;

23
 Example 1
– This 6 equations and 6 unknowns, i.e. δ2, δ3, P1, Q1,
Q2, and Q, can be solved using MATLAB’s fsolve()
routine:
>> global lambda; lambda=1;
>> zo=fsolve(@PFeqs,[0 0 0 0 0 0],optimset('Display','iter'))

Norm of First-order
Iteration Func-count f(x) step optimality CG-iterations
1 7 0.945696 18 1
2 14 0.000661419 0.705901 0.0205 1
3 21 9.98638e-018 0.0257331 2.52e-009 1.76
Optimization terminated successfully:
Relative function value changing by less than OPTIONS.TolFun

zo =

-0.0100 -0.0500 0.6000 -0.1870 -0.1915 0.2565

24
 Example 1
– Observe that as the load (lambda) is increased,
convergence problems develop until the equations fail
to converge at lambda ≈ 21+:
>> lambda=20;
>> zo=fsolve(@PFeqs,[0 0 0 0 0 0],optimset('Display','iter'))

Norm of First-order
Iteration Func-count f(x) step optimality CG-iterations
1 8 396.67 1 360 0
2 15 115.235 8.55116 106 3
.
.
.
31 218 2.40413e-006 0.0020814 0.00659 3
32 225 1.46753e-006 0.00091283 0.00345 3
Optimization terminated successfully:
Relative function value changing by less than OPTIONS.TolFun

zo =

-0.2501 -1.2612 11.9993 7.0641 4.8020 20.1638

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 Example 2
• For a 3-area sample system:
100 MW
150 MW
AREA 1 AREA 2

50 Mvar
R = 0.01 p.u.
150 MW X = 0.15 p.u. 150 MW
60 Mvar 1.02 ∠0 V2 ∠δ2 56 Mvar

AREA 3 V3 ∠δ3
50 MW
40 Mvar
50 Mvar
100 MW

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 Example 2
– MATLAB-based PSAT can be used to solve the power flow
problem, in which case the system can be drawn using
SYMULINK (ThreeArea.mdl):
Area 1

Area 2

Area 3

27
 Example 2
– This diagram is transformed by PSAT into the following MATLAB
database that represents the system (ThreeArea_mdl.m):
Bus.con = [ ...
1 138 1 0 1 1;
2 138 1 0 1 1;
3 138 1 0 1 1;
];

Line.con = [ ...
1 2 100 138 60 0 0 0.01 0.15 0 0 0 0 0 0 1;
1 3 100 138 60 0 0 0.01 0.15 0 0 0 0 0 0 1;
3 2 100 138 60 0 0 0.01 0.15 0 0 0 0 0 0 1;
];

Shunt.con = [ ...
3 100 138 60 0 0.5 1;
2 100 138 60 0 0.5 1;
];

SW.con = [ ...
1 100 138 1.02 0 999 -999 1.1 0.9 1.5 1 1 1;
];

PV.con = [ ...
3 100 138 1 1 0.001 0 1.1 0.9 1 1;
2 100 138 1 1 0.001 0 1.1 0.9 1 1;
];

PQ.con = [ ...
3 100 138 0.5 0.4 1.2 0.8 1 1;
2 100 138 1.5 0.56 1.2 0.8 1 1;
1 100 138 1.5 0.6 1.2 0.8 1 1;
];

Bus.names = {... 28
'Area 1'; 'Area 2'; 'Area 3'};
Example 2

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 Example 2
• Running the Power Flow yields the following
“Static Report” (ThreeArea_01.txt) :
POWER FLOW REPORT

P S A T 2.1.6

Author: Federico Milano, (c) 2002-2010

e-mail: Federico.Milano@uclm.es
website: http://www.uclm.es/area/gsee/Web/Federico

File: c:\G\COURSES\MEngPowerEng\ECE6613PD\Lectures\PowerFlow\ThreeArea.mdl
Date: 17-Sep-2013 16:45:42

NETWORK STATISTICS

Buses: 3
Lines: 3
Generators: 3
Loads: 3

SOLUTION STATISTICS

Number of Iterations: 5
Maximum P mismatch [p.u.] 0
Maximum Q mismatch [p.u.] 0
Power rate [MVA] 100

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 Example 2
POWER FLOW RESULTS

Bus V phase P gen Q gen P load Q load

[p.u.] [rad] [p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.]
GLOBAL SUMMARY REPORT
Area 1 1.02 0 1.5017 0.53396 1.5 0.6
Area 2 1.0193 -0.02413 1 0 1.5 0.04049
TOTAL GENERATION
Area 3 1.0309 0.023 1 0 0.5 -0.13142
REAL POWER [p.u.] 3.5017
Minimum reactive power at bus <Area 2>
REACTIVE POWER [p.u.] 0.5343
Minimum reactive power at bus <Area 3>
TOTAL LOAD
LINE FLOWS
REAL POWER [p.u.] 3.5
REACTIVE POWER [p.u.] 0.50942
From Bus To Bus Line P Flow Q Flow P Loss Q Loss
[p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.]
TOTAL LOSSES
Area 1 Area 2 1 0.16696 -0.00448 0.00027 0.00402
REAL POWER [p.u.] 0.00166
Area 1 Area 3 2 -0.1653 -0.06155 0.0003 0.00449
REACTIVE POWER [p.u.] 0.02488
Area 3 Area 2 3 0.3344 0.06539 0.00109 0.01639
LIMIT VIOLATION STATISTICS
LINE FLOWS
ALL VOLTAGES WITHIN LIMITS.
ALL REACTIVE POWERS WITHIN LIMITS (2 BINDING).
From Bus To Bus Line P Flow Q Flow P Loss Q Loss
ALL CURRENT FLOWS WITHIN LIMITS.
[p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.] [p.u.]
ALL REAL POWER FLOWS WITHIN LIMITS.
ALL APPARENT POWER FLOWS WITHIN LIMITS.
Area 2 Area 1 1 -0.16669 0.00851 0.00027 0.00402
Area 3 Area 1 2 0.1656 0.06604 0.0003 0.00449
Area 2 Area 3 3 -0.33331 -0.049 0.00109 0.01639

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 Fast Decoupled Solution
• If only the unknown bus voltage angles
and magnitudes are calculated using NR's
method (the generator reactive powers
and active slack power are evaluated
later):

32
Fast Decoupled Solution

33
 Fast Decoupled Solution
• Assuming:
– (δi - δk) < 10o, then:

– The resistance in the transmission system are small,

i.e. R << X, then Gik << Bik.
• The M and N matrices may be neglected and:

34
 Fast Decoupled Solution
• Thus, the linear step equations may be
decoupled and reduced to

where B" is the imaginary part of the Ybus matrix,

and B' is the imaginary part of the admittance
matrix obtained by ignoring the system
resistances, i.e. B" ≠ B'.

35
 Fast Decoupled Solution
• The Fast Decoupled iterative method is then
defined as follows:
1. Start with an initial guess, typically δi0=0, Vi0=1.
2. Solve for ∆δk →
3. Update →
4. Solve for ∆Vk →
5. Update →
6. Compute unknown generator powers and check for
limits.
7. Repeat process for k=1,2,…, until convergence.

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 Fast Decoupled Solution
• This technique requires of a relatively large
number of iterations as compared to the
robust NR method.
• It is significantly faster, as there is no need to
re-compute the Jacobian matrix every
iteration.
• It is sensitive to initial guesses and there is
no guarantee of convergence, particularly for
systems with large transmission system
resistances.

37
 Optimization Approach
• The power flow problem can be restated as an
optimization problem, with complementarity
constraints to represent generator limits:

38
 Optimization Approach
• The complementarity ⊥ constraints are used to represent
the switching control conditions when the voltage
regulator reaches or comes out of a limits, and can be
represented as:

39
 Optimization Approach
• This problem can be solved using
optimization techniques (e.g. fsolve in
MATLAB), such as interior point methods.
• More about this approach can be found in:
M. Pirnia, C. A. Cañizares, and K.
Bhattacharya, “Revisiting the Power Flow
Problem Based on a Mixed Complementarity
Formulation Approach,” IET Generation,
Transmission & Distribution, vol. 7, no. 11,
November 2013, pp. 1194-1201.

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 Optimization Approach
• Solution technique:

– Interior point solution approach:

41
 Optimization Approach
– Lagrange-Newton method:

– The solution procedure (basically NR)

requires finding the Hessian:

42