SECTION 6.

4 THE POWER-FLOW PROBLEM 325

STEP 3 Using Dyð0Þ and Jð0Þ, (6.3.11) becomes

" #" # " #
1 1 Dx1 ð0Þ 2
¼
9 4 Dx2 ð0Þ 14
Using Gauss elimination, subtract J21 =J11 ¼ 9=1 ¼ 9 times
the first equation from the second equation, giving
" #" # " #
1 1 Dx1 ð0Þ 2
¼
0 5 Dx2 ð0Þ 4
Solving by back substitution,
4
Dx2 ð0Þ ¼ ¼ 0:8
5
Dx1 ð0Þ ¼ 2  0:8 ¼ 1:2
  
4 1:2 5:2
STEP 4 xð1Þ ¼ xð0Þ þ Dxð0Þ ¼ þ ¼
9 0:8 9:8
This is the same as computed in Example 6.7. 9

Experience from power-flow studies has shown that Newton–Raphson

converges in many cases where Jacobi and Gauss–Seidel diverge. Further-
more, the number of iterations required for convergence is independent of
the dimension N for Newton–Raphson, but increases with N for Jacobi and
Gauss–Seidel. Most Newton–Raphson power-flow problems converge in
fewer than 10 iterations [1].

6.4
THE POWER-FLOW PROBLEM

The power-flow problem is the computation of voltage magnitude and phase

angle at each bus in a power system under balanced three-phase steady-state
conditions. As a by-product of this calculation, real and reactive power flows
in equipment such as transmission lines and transformers, as well as equip-
ment losses, can be computed.
The starting point for a power-flow problem is a single-line diagram of
the power system, from which the input data for computer solutions can be
obtained. Input data consist of bus data, transmission line data, and trans-
former data.
As shown in Figure 6.1, the following four variables are associated with
each bus k: voltage magnitude Vk , phase angle dk , net real power Pk , and re-
active power Q k supplied to the bus. At each bus, two of these variables are
specified as input data, and the other two are unknowns to be computed by
326 CHAPTER 6 POWER FLOWS

FIGURE 6.1
Bus variables Vk , dk , Pk ,
and Qk

the power-flow program. For convenience, the power delivered to bus k in

Figure 6.1 is separated into generator and load terms. That is,
Pk ¼ PGk  PLk
Q k ¼ QGk  QLk ð6:4:1Þ
Each bus k is categorized into one of the following three bus types:
1. Swing bus (or slack bus)—There is only one swing bus, which for
convenience is numbered bus 1 in this text. The swing bus is a refer-
ence bus for which V1 d1 , typically 1:0 0 per unit, is input data.
The power-flow program computes P1 and Q1 .
2. Load (PQ) bus—Pk and Qk are input data. The power-flow program
computes Vk and dk . Most buses in a typical power-flow program are
load buses.
3. Voltage controlled (PV) bus—Pk and Vk are input data. The power-
flow program computes Qk and dk . Examples are buses to which
generators, switched shunt capacitors, or static var systems are con-
nected. Maximum and minimum var limits QGkmax and QGkmin that
this equipment can supply are also input data. If an upper or lower
reactive power limit is reached, then the reactive power output of the
generator is held at the limit, and the bus is modeled as a PQ bus.
Another example is a bus to which a tap-changing transformer is
connected; the power-flow program then computes the tap setting.
Note that when bus k is a load bus with no generation, Pk ¼ PLk is
negative; that is, the real power supplied to bus k in Figure 6.1 is negative. If
the load is inductive, Q k ¼ QLk is negative.
Transmission lines are represented by the equivalent p circuit, shown
in Figure 5.7. Transformers are also represented by equivalent circuits, as
 SECTION 6.4 THE POWER-FLOW PROBLEM 327

shown in Figure 3.9 for a two-winding transformer, Figure 3.20 for a three-
winding transformer, or Figure 3.25 for a tap-changing transformer.
Input data for each transmission line include the per-unit equivalent p
circuit series impedance Z 0 and shunt admittance Y 0 , the two buses to which
the line is connected, and maximum MVA rating. Similarly, input data for
each transformer include per-unit winding impedances Z, the per-unit excit-
ing branch admittance Y, the buses to which the windings are connected, and
maximum MVA ratings. Input data for tap-changing transformers also in-
clude maximum tap settings.
The bus admittance matrix Ybus can be constructed from the line and
transformer input data. From (2.4.3) and (2.4.4), the elements of Ybus are:
Diagonal elements: Ykk ¼ sum of admittances connected to bus k
O¤-diagonal elements: Ykn ¼ ðsum of admittances connected
between buses k and nÞ
k0n ð6:4:2Þ

EXAMPLE 6.9 Power-flow input data and Ybus

Figure 6.2 shows a single-line diagram of a five-bus power system. Input data
are given in Tables 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3. As shown in Table 6.1, bus 1, to which a
generator is connected, is the swing bus. Bus 3, to which a generator and a
load are connected, is a voltage-controlled bus. Buses 2, 4, and 5 are load
buses. Note that the loads at buses 2 and 3 are inductive since Q 2 ¼ QL2 ¼
2:8 and QL3 ¼ 0:4 are negative.
For each bus k, determine which of the variables Vk , dk , Pk , and Q k are
input data and which are unknowns. Also, compute the elements of the sec-
ond row of Ybus .

SOLUTION The input data and unknowns are listed in Table 6.4. For bus 1,
the swing bus, P1 and Q1 are unknowns. For bus 3, a voltage-controlled bus,
FIGURE 6.2
Single-line diagram for
Example 6.9
328 CHAPTER 6 POWER FLOWS

TABLE 6.1 V PG QG PL QL QGmax QGmin

per d per per per per per per
Bus input data for Bus Type unit degrees unit unit unit unit unit unit
Example 6.9*
1 Swing 1.0 0 — — 0 0 — —
2 Load — — 0 0 8.0 2.8 — —
3 Constant 1.05 — 5.2 — 0.8 0.4 4.0 2.8
voltage
4 Load — — 0 0 0 0 — —
5 Load — — 0 0 0 0 — —

* Sbase ¼ 100 MVA, Vbase ¼ 15 kV at buses 1, 3, and 345 kV at buses 2, 4, 5

TABLE 6.2 Maximum

R0 X0 G0 B0 MVA
Line input data for Bus-to-Bus per unit per unit per unit per unit per unit
Example 6.9
2–4 0.0090 0.100 0 1.72 12.0
2–5 0.0045 0.050 0 0.88 12.0
4–5 0.00225 0.025 0 0.44 12.0

TABLE 6.3 Maximum

R X Gc Bm Maximum TAP
Transformer input data per per per per MVA Setting
for Example 6.9 Bus-to-Bus unit unit unit unit per unit per unit
1–5 0.00150 0.02 0 0 6.0 —
3–4 0.00075 0.01 0 0 10.0 —

TABLE 6.4 Bus Input Data Unknowns

Input data and 1 V1 ¼ 1:0, d1 ¼ 0 P1 , Q1
unknowns for 2 P2 ¼ PG2  PL2 ¼ 8 V2 , d2
Example 6.9 Q 2 ¼ QG2  QL2 ¼ 2:8
3 V3 ¼ 1:05 Q3 , d3
P3 ¼ PG3  PL3 ¼ 4:4
4 P4 ¼ 0, Q4 ¼ 0 V4 , d4
5 P5 ¼ 0, Q5 ¼ 0 V5 , d5

Q3 and d3 are unknowns. For buses 2, 4, and 5, load buses, V2 , V4 , V5 and

d 2 , d4 , d5 are unknowns.
The elements of Ybus are computed from (6.4.2). Since buses 1 and 3 are
not directly connected to bus 2,
Y21 ¼ Y23 ¼ 0
Using (6.4.2),
 SECTION 6.4 THE POWER-FLOW PROBLEM 329

1 1
Y24 ¼ 0 0 ¼ ¼ 0:89276 þ j9:91964 per unit
R24 þ j X24 0:009 þ j0:1
¼ 9:95972 95:143 per unit
1 1
Y25 ¼ 0 0 ¼ ¼ 1:78552 þ j19:83932 per unit
R25 þ j X25 0:0045 þ j0:05
¼ 19:9195 95:143 per unit
0
1 1 B24 B0
Y22 ¼ 0 0 þ 0 0 þ j þ j 25
R24 þ j X24 R25 þ j X25 2 2
1:72 0:88
¼ ð0:89276  j9:91964Þ þ ð1:78552  j19:83932Þ þ j þj
2 2
¼ 2:67828  j28:4590 ¼ 28:5847 84:624 per unit

FIGURE 6.3 Screen for Example 6.9

330 CHAPTER 6 POWER FLOWS

where half of the shunt admittance of each line connected to bus 2 is included
in Y22 (the other half is located at the other ends of these lines).
This five-bus power system is modeled in PowerWorld Simulator case
Example 6_9 (see Figure 6.3). To view the input data, first click on the Edit
Mode button (on the far left-hand side of the ribbon) to switch into the Edit
mode (the Edit mode is used for modifying system parameters). Then by se-
lecting the Case Information tab you can view tabular displays showing the
various parameters for the system. For example, use Network, Buses to view
the parameters for each bus, and Network, Lines and Transformers to view
the parameters for the transmission lines and transformers. Fields shown in
blue can be directly changed simply by typing over them, and those shown
in green can be toggled by clicking on them. Note that the values shown on
these displays match the values from Tables 6.1 to 6.3, except the power val-
ues are shown in actual MW/Mvar units.
The elements of Ybus can also be displayed by selecting Solution Details,
Ybus . Since the Ybus entries are derived from other system parameters, they
cannot be changed directly. Notice that several of the entries are blank, in-
dicating that there is no line directly connecting these two buses (a blank en-
try is equivalent to zero). For larger networks most of the elements of the
Ybus are zero since any single bus usually only has a few incident lines (such
sparse matrices are considered in Section 6.8). The elements of the Ybus can
be saved in a Matlab compatible format by first right-clicking within the Ybus
matrix to display the local menu, and then selecting Save Ybus in Matlab
Format from the local menu.
Finally, notice that no flows are shown on the one-line because the
nonlinear power-flow equations have not yet been solved. We cover the solu-
tion of these equations next. 9

Using Ybus , we can write nodal equations for a power system network,
as follows:
I ¼ Ybus V ð6:4:3Þ
where I is the N vector of source currents injected into each bus and V is the
N vector of bus voltages. For bus k, the kth equation in (6.4.3) is
X
N
Ik ¼ Ykn Vn ð6:4:4Þ
n¼1

The complex power delivered to bus k is

Sk ¼ Pk þ jQ k ¼ Vk Ik ð6:4:5Þ

Power-flow solutions by Gauss–Seidel are based on nodal equations, (6.4.4),

where each current source Ik is calculated from (6.4.5). Using (6.4.4) in
(6.4.5),
" #
X
N
Pk þ jQ k ¼ Vk Ykn Vn k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; N ð6:4:6Þ
n¼1
 SECTION 6.5 POWER-FLOW SOLUTION BY GAUSS–SEIDEL 331

With the following notation,

Vn ¼ Vn e jdn ð6:4:7Þ
Ykn ¼ Ykn e jykn ¼ Gkn þ jBkn k; n ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; N ð6:4:8Þ
(6.4.6) becomes
X
N
Pk þ jQ k ¼ Vk Ykn Vn e jðdk dn ykn Þ ð6:4:9Þ
n¼1

Taking the real and imaginary parts of (6.4.9), we can write the power bal-
ance equations as either
X
N
Pk ¼ Vk Ykn Vn cosðdk  dn  ykn Þ ð6:4:10Þ
n¼1

X
N
Q k ¼ Vk Ykn Vn sinðdk  dn  ykn Þ k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; N ð6:4:11Þ
n¼1

or when the Ykn is expressed in rectangular coordinates by

X
N
PK ¼ VK Vn ½G kn cosðdk  dn Þ þ Bkn sinðdk  dn Þ ð6:4:12Þ
n¼1

X
N
QK ¼ VK Vn ½G kn sinðdk  dn Þ  Bkn cosðdk  dn Þ k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; N
n¼1
ð6:4:13Þ
Power-flow solutions by Newton–Raphson are based on the nonlinear power-
flow equations given by (6.4.10) and (6.4.11) [or alternatively by (6.4.12) and
(6.4.13)].

6.5
POWER-FLOW SOLUTION BY GAUSS–SEIDEL
Nodal equations I ¼ Ybus V are a set of linear equations analogous to y ¼ Ax,
solved in Section 6.2 using Gauss–Seidel. Since power-flow bus data consists
of Pk and Qk for load buses or Pk and Vk for voltage-controlled buses, nodal
equations do not directly fit the linear equation format; the current source
vector I is unknown and the equations are actually nonlinear. For each load
bus, Ik can be calculated from (6.4.5), giving
Pk  jQ k
Ik ¼ ð6:5:1Þ
Vk