POWER (LOAD) FLOW STUDY

INTRODUCTION
BASIC TECHNIQUES
TYPE OF BUSES
Y BUS MATRIX
POWER SYSTEM COMPONENTS
BUS ADMITTANCE MATRIX

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 Learning Outcome
 Student will be able to describe the basic concept of load
flow studies.

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 INTRODUCTION
 Power (Load) flow study is the analysis of a power system in
normal steady-state operation
 This study will determine:
Voltages
Currents
In a power system under a
Real power given set of load conditions
Reactive power
Why we need load flow study?

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  The power flow problem was originally motivated within
planning environments where engineers considered different
network configurations necessary to serve an expected future
load.
 Later, it became an operational problem as operators and
operating engineers were required to monitor the real-time
status of the network in terms of voltage magnitudes and
circuit flows.

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  A power flow solution procedure is a numerical method that is
employed to solve the power flow problem.
 A power flow program is a computer code that implements a
power flow solution procedure.
 The power flow solution contains the voltages and angles at all
buses, and from this information, we may compute the real
and reactive generation and load levels at all buses and the
real and reactive flows across all circuits.

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 Terminology
 The above terminology is often used with the word “load”
substituted for “power,” i.e., load flow problem, load flow
solution procedure, load flow program, and load flow
solution.
 However, the former terminology is preferred as one
normally does not think of “load” as something that “flows.”

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 Power system components
 Generator
 Transmission Lines
 Load

Figure 1

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 Generator
 Generators have maximum and minimum real and reactive
power capabilities.
 Maximum reactive power capability:
 maximum reactive power that the generator may produce when operating
with a lagging power factor.
 minimum reactive power capability:
 maximum reactive power the generator may absorb when operating with
a leading power factor.
 These limitations are a function of the real power output of the
generator,
 as the real power increases, the reactive power limitations move closer to
zero.

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 Figure 2

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  Figure 2 illustrates several important elements of the power
flow problem.
 First, identify each bus depending on whether generation
and/or load is connected to it.
 A bus may have
 generation only (buses B1, B2, and B3),
 load only (buses B5, B7, and B9),
 neither generation or load (buses B4, B6, and B8).
 both generation and load (leads us to define “bus injection”)

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 Basic Technique for Load Flow Studies
 In a load flow study, assumptions are made about:
 Voltage at a bus or
 Power being supplied to the bus
For each bus
in the system

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 Types of Buses
 For each bus, there are four possible variables that
characterize the buses electrical condition.
 The four variables are
 real and reactive power injection, Pi and Qi,
 voltage magnitude and angle, |Vi| and i , respectively

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 Types of Buses (cont..)
 Generation Bus
 Also called the P-V bus or voltage-controlled buses
 Voltage magnitude |Vi| and real power Pi are specified
 Able to specify (and therefore to know) the voltage magnitude of this
bus.
 Most generator buses fall into this category, independent of whether
it also has load

 Load Bus
 Also called the P-Q bus
 Real power Pi and Qi are specified
 All load buses fall into this category, including buses that have not
either load or generation.

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  Slack or Swing Bus
 Known as reference bus
 Voltage magnitude |Vi| and phase angle i are specified
 There is only one swing bus, and it can be designated by the
engineer to be any generator bus in the system.
 This generator “swings” to compensate for the network losses,
or, one may say that it “takes up the slack.”

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 Bus types Quantities Unknown
specified values
Generator Bus |Vi| , Pi Qi , i

Load Bus Pi , Qi |Vi| , i

Slack Bus |Vi| , i Pi , Qi

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 Bus injection
 An injection is the power (P or Q), that is being injected into
or withdrawn from a bus by an element having its other
terminal (in the per-phase equivalent circuit) connected to
ground. Such an element would be either a generator or a
load.
 Positive injection is defined as one where power is flowing
from the element into the bus.
 Negative injection is then when power is flowing from the
bus, into the element.

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 Bus injection (cont..)
 Generators normally have positive real power injections,
although they may also be assigned negative real power
injections when they are operating as a motor.
 Generators may have either positive or negative reactive
power injections:
 positive if the generator is operating lagging and delivering reactive
power to the bus,
 negative if the generator is operating leading and absorbing reactive
power from the bus, and
 zero if the generator is operating at unity power factor.

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 Loads
 Loads normally have
negative real and Pk=100
Qk=30
Pk= - 40
Qk= -20

reactive power
injections. (a) (b)

 Figure 3: Illustration of (a) positive Pk=100+(-40)=60

injection, (b) negative injection, Qk=30+(-20)=10

and (c) net injection

(c)

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  Figure 3 illustrates the net injection as the algebraic sum
when a bus has both load and generation;
 In this case, the net injection for both real and reactive power
is positive (into the bus).
 Thus, the net real power injection is Pk=Pgk-Pdk, and the net
reactive power injection is Qk=Qgk-Qdk.
 We may also refer to the net complex power injection as
Sk=Sgk-Sdk, where Sk=Pk+jQk.

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 Power Flow solution
 Most common and important tool in power system
analysis
 also known as the “Load Flow” solution
 used for planning and controlling a system
 assumptions: balanced condition and single phase analysis
 The utility wants to know the voltage profile
 the nodal voltages for a given load and generation schedule
 From the load flow solution –
 the voltage magnitude and phase angle at each bus could be
determined and hence the active and reactive power flow in each line
could be calculated

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  The currents and powers are expressed as going into the bus
 for generation the powers are positive
 for loads the powers are negative
 the scheduled power is the sum of the generation and load
powers

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 The Bus Admittance Matrix
 The matrix equation for relating the nodal voltages to the
currents that flow into and out of a network using the
admittance values of circuit branches is given by :-

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 Forming the Admittance Matrix

1 y13 3 4
I1 y34
2 I4
y12 y23
I2 I3
y1 y4
y2 y3

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 From Kirchoff’s Current Law (KCL) –
 the current injections be equal to the sum of the currents
flowing out of the bus and into the lines connecting the bus
to other buses,or to the ground.
 Therefore, recalling Ohm’s Law, I=V/Z=VY, the current
injected into bus 1 may be written as:
I1=(V1-V2)y12 + (V1-V3)y13 + V1y1

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  I2 = (V2 - V1)(y21) + V2 y2 + (V2 –V3)y23

➢ I1= V1( y1 + y12 + y13) + V2(-y12) + V3(-y13)

➢ I2= V1(-y21) + V2( y2 + y21 + y23) + V3(-y23)

➢ I3= V1(-y31) + V2(-y32) + V3( y3 + y31 + y32+ y34) +

V4(-y34)

➢ I4= V3(-y43) + V4( y4 + y43)

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 Admittance Matrix

( y1  y12  y13) - y12 - y13 0 

 -y ( y  y  y ) - y 0 
 21 2 21 23 23 
 - y31 - y32 ( y3  y31  y32  y34 ) - y34 
 
 0 0 - y43 ( y4  y43)

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 Matrix Equation

I1  ( y1  y12  y13) - y12 - y13 0  V1 

I   - y ( y2  y21  y23) - y23  
0  V2  
 2   21

I3   - y31 - y32 ( y3  y31  y32  y34 ) - y34  V3 

    
I 4   0 0 - y43 ( y4  y43) V4 

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 Y-Bus Matrix Building Rules
 The matrix is symmetric, i.e.,Yij=Yji.
 A diagonal element Yii = Self Admittance
 is obtained as the sum of admittances for all branches connected to bus i,
including the shunt branch
N
Yii  y i  y
k 1, k  i
ik

 The off-diagonal elements are the negative of the admittances

connecting buses i and j, i.e.,Yij=-yji = mutual admittance.

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  E.g. for a 4 bus system

Y11 Y12 Y13 Y14 

Y 
Y22 Y23 Y24 
Y  21

Y31 Y32 Y33 Y34 

 
Y41 Y42 Y43 Y44 

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 The power flow equations
 The net complex power injection into a bus
Sk=Sgk-Sdk
Sk=VkIk*
Vk=| Vk|k
Ik = | Ykj|kj | Vj|j
Ik = | Ykj|| Vj| (kj + j)
Ik* = | Ykj|| Vj| -(kj + j)

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 Sk=VkIk*
Sk= | Vk|k x  | Ykj|| Vj| -(kj + j)
Sk=  | Ykj| | Vk|| Vj| (k - j - kj )
Pk=  | Ykj| | Vk|| Vj|cos (k - j - kj )
Qk=  | Ykj| | Vk|| Vj|sin (k - j - kj )

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