Load Flow Studies

Load flow studies
Introduction
Load-flow studies are performed to determine
the steady-state operation of an electric power
system. It calculates the voltage drop on each
feeder, the voltage at each bus, and the power
flow in all branch and feeder circuits.
Determine if system voltages remain within
specified limits under various contingency
conditions, and whether equipment such as
transformers and conductors are overloaded.
Load-flow studies are often used to identify the
need for additional generation, capacitive, or
inductive VAR support, or the placement of
capacitors and/or reactors to maintain system
voltages within specified limits.
Losses in each branch and total system power
losses are also calculated.
A power flow study (load-flow study) is a

steady-state analysis whose target is to
determine the voltages, currents, and real and
reactive power flows in a system under a given
load conditions.
The purpose of power flow studies is to plan
ahead and account for various hypothetical
situations. For example, if a transmission line is
be taken off line for maintenance, can the
remaining lines in the system handle the
required loads without exceeding their rated
values.
Power Flow Equation

Note: Transmission lines are
represented by their equivalent pi
models (impedance in p.u.)
Fig. 1. A typical bus of the power system.

Applying KCL to this bus
results in
(1)
(2)
The real and reactive power at

bus i is
Substituting for Ii in (2) yields
Equation (5) is an algebraic non linear equation which must be

solved by iterative techniques
Formulation of power-flow study

There are 4 variables that are associated with
each bus such as P, Q, V, and .
In a power flow study, two of the four variables
are defined and other two are unknown. The
known and unknown variables depend on the
type of bus.
Each bus in a power system can be classified as
one of three types:
1. Load bus (P-Q bus)
2. Generator bus (P-V bus)
3. Slack bus (Swing bus)
1. Load bus (P-Q bus) a bus at which the real

and reactive power are specified, and for
which the bus voltage will be calculated. In
here, V and are unknown.
2. Generator bus (P-V bus) a bus at which
the magnitude of the voltage is defined and is
kept constant by adjusting the field current of
a synchronous generator. We also assign real
power
generation
for
each
generator
according to the economic dispatch. In here,
Q and are unknown.
3. Slack bus (swing bus) a special generator
bus serving as the reference bus. Its voltage
is assumed to be fixed in both magnitude and
phase (for instance, 10 pu). In here, P and
Solution Techniques used for load

flows
Note that the power flow equations are nonlinear,
thus
cannot
be
solved
analytically.
Because of the nonlinearity of the algebraic

equations, describing the given power system,
their solutions are obviously, based on the
iterative methods only.
Solution of Nonlinear equations:
Iterative methods only:
- Gauss-Siedel Method (for smaller systems)
- Newton-Raphson
Method
(if
corrections
for
Importance of swing bus: The slack or swing

bus is usually a PV-bus with the largest capacity
generator of the given system connected to it. The
generator at the swing bus supplies the power
difference between the specified power into the
system at the other buses and the total system
output plus losses. Thus swing bus is eeded to
supply the additional real and reactive power to
meet the losses. Both the magnitude and phase
angle of voltage are specified at the swing bus, or
otherwise, they are assumed to be equal to 1.0
p.u. and 00 , as per flat-start procedure of iterative
Importance of YBUS based LFA: The majority of load

flow programs employ methods using the bus
admittance matrix, as this method is found to be more
economical. The bus admittance matrix plays a very
important role in load flow analysis. It is a complex,
square and symmetric matrix and hence only n(n+1)/2
elements of YBUS need to be stored for a n-bus system.
Further, in the YBUS matrix, Yij= 0, if an incident
element is not present in the system connecting the
buses i and j. since in a large power system, each bus
is connected only to a fewer buses through an incident
element, (about 6-8), the coefficient matrix, YBUS of
such systems would be highly sparse, i.e., it will have
many zero valued elements in it. This is defined by the
sparsity of the matrix, as under:
% S of a given matrix of nth order = (Z / n2) x 100
Z=Total no. of zero valued elements of YBUS
n=Total no. of entries of YBUS
The percentage sparsity of YBUS, in practice, could be
as high as 80-90%, especially for very large, practical
Gauss-Seidel method
Equation
(5) is solved for Vi solved

iteratively
Where yij is the actual admittance in p.u.

Pisch and Qisch are the net real and reactive powers in p.u.
In writing the KCL, current entering bus I was assumed
positive.
Thus for:
Generator buses (where real and reactive powers are
injected), Pisch and Qisch have positive values.
Load buses (real and reactive powers flow away from the
bus), Pisch and Qisch have negative values.
Eqn.5 can be solved for Pi and Qi
The power flow equation is usually expressed in terms of

the elements of the bus admittance matrix, Ybus , shown by
upper case letters, are Yij = -yij, and the diagonal elements
are Yii = yij. Hence eqn. 6 can be written as
Iterative steps:
Slack bus: both components of the voltage are specified.
2(n-1) equations to be solved iteratively.
Flat voltage start: initial voltage of 1.0+j0 for unknown
voltages.
PQ buses: Pisch and Qisch are known. with flat voltage start,
Eqn. 9 is solved for real and imaginary components of
Voltage.
PV buses: Pisch and [Vi] are known. Eqn. 11 is solved for
Qik+1 which is then substituted in Eqn. 9 to solve for Vik+1
However, since [Vi] is specified, only the imaginary part of

Vik+1 is retained, and its real part is selected in order to
satisfy
acceleration factor: the rate of convergence is increased
by applying an acceleration factor to the approx. solution

obtained from each iteration.
Iteration is continued until
Once a solution is converged, the net real and reactive

powers at the slack bus are computed from Eqns.10 & 11 .
Line flows and Line losses
Considering Iij positive in the given direction,
Similarly, considering the line current Iji in the given direction,
The complex power Sij from bus i to j and Sji from bus j
to i are
Acceleration of convergence
It is found that in GS method of load flow, the number of iterations increase
with increase in the size of the system. The number of iterations required can be
reduced if the correction in voltage at each bus is accelerated, by multiplying
with a constant , called the acceleration factor.
where is a real number. When =1, the value of Vik+1 is the computed value. If
1 < < 2, then the value computed is extrapolated. Generally is taken between 1.2
to 1.6, for GS load flow procedure.
Problem: Obtain the load flow solution at the end of first iteration of the system with
data as given below. The solution is to be obtained for the following cases
(i) All buses except bus 1 are PQ Buses
(ii) Bus 2 is a PV bus whose voltage magnitude is specified as 1.04 pu
(iii) Bus 2 is PV bus, with voltage magnitude specified as 1.04 and 0.25Q 21.0
pu.
Fig. System
Table: Line data
Table: Bus data
Solution:
y12=1/(0.05+j0.15) = 2-j6
y13=1/(0.10+j0.30) = 1-j3
y23=1/(0.15+j0.45) = 0.667-j2
y24=1/(0.10+j0.30) = 1-j3
y34=1/(0.05+j0.15) = 2-j6
For diagonal elements

Yii= yij
For off-diagonal elements
Yij=- yij
Y11= y12+ y13 ; Y12=-y12; Y13=-y13; Y14=-y14
Y21= -y21; Y22= y12+y23+y24; Y23=-y23; Y24=-y24
Y31= -y31; Y32=-y32; Y33= y13+y23+y34; Y34=-y34
Gauss method:
Case(i): All buses except bus 1 are PQ Buses
Assume all initial voltages to be 1.0 00 pu.
flowchart
next
Flow chart for Gauss method
Flow chart for Gauss method
back
P jQ
3
3
1
V
Y33
1
3
V31
0*
3
Y V Y V Y V
0
31 1
0
32 2
0
34 4
1.0 j 0.5
j
3
)(
1
j
0
)
0
.
667
j
2
)(
1
j
0
)
j
6
)(
1
j
0
)
(3.667 j11) (1 j 0)
V31 1.01812 5.38 p.u.
1
V
Y44
1
4
P4 jQ4
0*
4
Y V Y V Y V
0
41 1
0
42 2
0
43 3
1 0.3 j 0.1
V
(1 j3)(1 j 0) (2 j 6)(1 j 0)
(3 j9) (1 j 0)
1
4
V41 1.000551.91 p.u.
Go to 6
from 6
Gauss seidel method:

Case(i): All buses except bus 1 are PQ Buses
Assume all initial voltages to be 1.0 00 pu.
Error in bus voltages using Gauss method:
V2 V21 V20 0.01908 j 0.04636

V3 V31 V30 0.01363 j 0.09546
V4 V41 V40 0.00006 j 0.03335
Error in bus voltages using Gauss Seidel method:
V2 V21 V20 0.01908 j 0.04636

V3 V31 V30 0.02742 j 0.08682
V4 V41 V40 0.02463 j 0.00912
Note: The results shows that the error obtained

from Gauss-Seidel is less when compared with
Gauss method. Hence the rate of convergence is
higher in case of Gauss-seidel method.
(Rectangular version)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
above to obtain
(20)
(21)
(22)
above to obtain
(23)
(24)
(25)
Flow chart for Newton Raphson Method
Generation bus
case:
P
and |V| are specified
Now the real power for pth bus is given by equation 3 and
magnitude of bus voltage at that bus is
2
E p e 2p f p2
The matrix equations inter relating the changes in bus powers and
square of the bus voltage magnitude to the changes in the real and
imaginary components of voltages are
P J
1
Q J 3
E J 5
J 2 e
J 4
f
J 6
Off-diagonal elements of J5 = 0 and Diagonal elements of J5 =

2ep
Off-diagonal elements of J6 = 0 and Diagonal elements of J6 =
2f
Newton Raphson Method (Polar version)
2
(26)
(27)

Load Flow Studies

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Load Flow Studies

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Load flow studies

A power flow study (load-flow study) is a

Power Flow Equation

Fig. 1. A typical bus of the power system.

The real and reactive power at

Substituting for Ii in (2) yields

Equation (5) is an algebraic non linear equation which must be

Formulation of power-flow study

1. Load bus (P-Q bus) a bus at which the real

Solution Techniques used for load

Because of the nonlinearity of the algebraic

Importance of swing bus: The slack or swing

Importance of YBUS based LFA: The majority of load

(5) is solved for Vi solved

Where yij is the actual admittance in p.u.

Eqn.5 can be solved for Pi and Qi

The power flow equation is usually expressed in terms of

However, since [Vi] is specified, only the imaginary part of

acceleration factor: the rate of convergence is increased

by applying an acceleration factor to the approx. solution

Once a solution is converged, the net real and reactive

Line flows and Line losses

Considering Iij positive in the given direction,

Similarly, considering the line current Iji in the given direction,

Table: Bus data

For diagonal elements

Flow chart for Gauss method

Flow chart for Gauss method

V31 1.01812 5.38 p.u.

V41 1.000551.91 p.u.

Gauss seidel method:

Error in bus voltages using Gauss method:

V2 V21 V20 0.01908 j 0.04636

V2 V21 V20 0.01908 j 0.04636

Note: The results shows that the error obtained

Flow chart for Newton Raphson Method

Off-diagonal elements of J5 = 0 and Diagonal elements of J5 =

Newton Raphson Method (Polar version)

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