Electrical

Design Guidelines & Calculation manual

For: Power System Studies
EG-DGCM-E-01

1.1 LOAD FLOW STUDIES

1.0

OBJECTIVE:
The load flow studies are performed to check the suitability of the existing system / new
system under normal or outage conditions and to check if existing system is capable of
supplying planned additional loads, to check and compare new alternatives for additions to
improve system performance. The objective of this document is to evaluate various
methods of load flow calculations.

2.0

STUDY PROCEDURE:
Following iterative techniques are utilized to carry out the load flow study;

2.1

ACCELERATED GAUSS-SIEDEL METHOD:

From the system nodal voltage equations the Accelerated Gauss-Seidel method derives the
following load flow equation and solves it iteratively:
[I] = [Y] [V]
(P + jQ)* / V* = (I)
[P - jQ] / [V] = [I]
Accordingly, the network equation for a complex network shall be represented as;
i-1
(m)

Vi

(m-1)
i

= (1/Yi) {(Pi-jQi) / V

- Yik Vk

(m)

N
(m-1)

- Yik Vk
k=1

} i = 1,2,3,N-1.

k=i+1

Where;
- * Denotes the conjugate of a complex quantity.
- P and Q are specified bus real and reactive power vectors.
- [I] is the Vector of total positive sequence currents flowing into the
network nodes (buses).
- [V] is the Vector of total positive sequence voltages at the network nodes (buses).
- [Y] is network admittance matrix.
- N is number of buses in the system
- m is iteration number.
- i & k are bus indexes
- V & Y are complex voltage and admittance, respectively.
- Vi m accelerated estimate of voltage at iteration m
The Accelerated Gauss-Seidel method has relatively lower requirements of the bus initial
voltage values compared to the Newton-Raphson method and the Fast-Decoupled method.
Instead of using bus real power and reactive power mismatch as convergence criteria, the
Accelerated Gauss-Seidel method checks bus voltage magnitude tolerance between two
consecutive iterations to control the solution precision. The typical value for bus voltage
magnitude precision is set to 0.000001 pu.The Accelerated Gauss-Seidel method has a
slower convergence speed. When you apply appropriate acceleration factors, a significant
increase in the rate of convergence can be obtained. The range for the acceleration factor is
between 1.2 and 1.7, and is typically set to 1.45.
Load Flow Convergence
As in any iterative solution method, the convergence of the load flow solution is affected by
a number of factors specific to power systems.
Page 4 of 109

Electrical
Design Guidelines & Calculation manual
For: Power System Studies
EG-DGCM-E-01

1.1 LOAD FLOW STUDIES

Negative Impedance
Negative resistance and reactance should be avoided. As an example, the traditional method
of modeling three-winding transformers by a Y equivalent model, using one impedance and
two two-winding transformers, sometimes results in a negative impedance value for one of
the impedance branches. In this case, the negative impedance should be combined with
other series circuit elements so that the result is a positive impedance value. Load flow
calculations may not converge if a large value of negative impedance is used. ETAP can
now model three-winding transformers directly with no need for the user to do any
conversions.
Zero or Very Small Impedance
A zero or very small impedance value of any branch is not allowed, since this will result in
infinity or a huge number in the system admittance matrix. You should represent this type
of impedance by a tie circuit breaker to solve the problem.
Widely Different Branch Impedance Values
Widely different branch impedance values on the same per unit base may result in a slow
convergence. To avoid this situation, various techniques, such as combining series branches
with low impedance values, ignoring short length transmission lines and/or cables, or
modeling a small impedance branch with tie circuit breakers, can be employed.
Long Radial System Configurations.
Long radial system configurations usually take a longer time to converge than loop
configurations. In general, the Fast-Decoupled method works faster than the NewtonRaphson or the Accelerated Gauss-Seidel method for radial system.
Bad Bus Voltage Initial Values
Solution convergence speed and computing time are functions of the initial voltages for
load-type buses. The closer the initial voltages are to their final profile, the faster the
solution converges. The solution may not converge if the initial voltages are too far from
the final profile, thus it is recommended that the Update Bus Voltage option be used to
obtain a set of sound initial bus voltages.
2.2

NEWTON-RAPHSON METHOD
This approach utilizes the partial derivatives of the load flow relationships to estimate the
changes in the independent variables required to find the solution. In general NewtonRaphson technique achieves convergence using less iteration than the Gauss Siedel
technique. However, the computational effort per iteration is more.
For a three bus system, the bus powers cab be expressed as non-linear functions of bus
voltage.
P1 = V1(Y11V1 + Y12V2 + Y13V3 )
P2 = V2(Y21V1 + Y22V2 + Y23V3 )
P1 = V3(Y31V1 + Y32V2 + Y33V3 )
Page 5 of 109

Electrical
Design Guidelines & Calculation manual
For: Power System Studies
EG-DGCM-E-01

1.1 LOAD FLOW STUDIES

Small changes in bus voltages (V) will cause corresponding changes in bus power (P). A
linearized approximation to the power change as a function of voltage changes can be
obtained as;
P1
P2

P3

P1
V1

P1
V2

P1
V3

V1

P2
V1

P2
V2

P2
V3

V2

P3
V1

P3
V2

P3
V3

V2

Or Symbolically;
[P or Q] = [J] [V] Where, the complex bus voltage is written in the polar co-ordinates.
In the load flow problem, V1 is specified; that V1=0. Also, since P1 does not enter the
computations explicitly, above equation is reduced to;

P2

P2
V2

P2
V3

V2

P3
V2

P3
V3

V3

=
P3

The changes in V2 and V3 due to changes in P2 and P3 are obtained by inverting [J] to
obtain;
[V] = [J]-1 [P]
The Newton-Raphson load flow solution method is as follows;
i)
Assign estimates of V2 and V3.
ii)
Compute P1 and P2.
iii)
Compute the differences (P) between computed and specified powers:
P2 = P2-P2 P3 = P3-P3
where the prime indicates specified value.
iv)
Since, P 0 is caused by errors in the voltages, it seems that the voltages should
be incorrect by an amount that is closely approximated by V as evaluated above.
Therefore, the new estimate for the bus voltages shall be;
V2

P2

V2
- [J ] -1

P3
Old
Page 6 of 109
Re-compute and invert the Jacobian matrix using the last computed voltages and
compute the new the new estimate for the voltages, using above equations. Repeat this
V3

V3

New

Electrical
Design Guidelines & Calculation manual
For: Power System Studies
EG-DGCM-E-01

1.1 LOAD FLOW STUDIES

procedure until P2 and P3 are less than asmall values ( convergence criterion).
3.0

Fast-Decoupled Method
The Fast-Decoupled method is derived from the Newton-Raphson method. It takes the fact
that a small change in the magnitude of bus voltage does not vary the real power at the bus
appreciably and likewise, for a small change in the phase angle of the bus voltage, the
reactive power does not change appreciably. Thus the load flow equation from the NewtonRaphson method can be simplified into two separate decoupled sets of load flow equations,
which can be solved iteratively.
The Fast-Decoupled method reduces computer memory storage by approximately half,
compared to the Newton-Raphson method. It also solves the load flow equations using
significantly less computer time than that required by the Newton-Raphson method, since
the Jacobian matrices are constant.
As with the Newton-Raphson method, convergence criteria of the Fast-Decoupled method
is based on real power and reactive power mismatches, which are typically set to 0.001 in
the order of MW and Mvar.
Although for a fixed number of iterations it is not as accurate as the Newton-Raphson
method, the savings in computer time and the more favorable convergence criteria makes
for a very good overall performance.
In general, the Fast-Decoupled method can be used as an alternative to the NewtonRaphson method, and it should definitely be given a try if the Newton-Raphson method has
failed when dealing with long radial systems or systems that have long transmission lines
or cables.

A comparison of capabilities of above methods for GC-25 Network is a tabulated;

Sr. No.
Parameter
1

No. of Buses

2
3

Network
Iterations/Res
ult
Precision

Accelerated Gauss
Siedel
Load flow study for
GC-25 Network is
not possible by this
method due to its
large size
Ring & radial
2000
0.000001

Study Method
Newton -Raphson

Fast Decoupled

66

66

Radial & Ring

99

Radial & Ring**

99

0.0001

0.0001

** Fast Decoupled method is most successful for larger networks, that do not converge with
Newton-Raphson method or the network has systems that have long transmission lines or cables.
Page 7of 109

Electrical
Design Guidelines & Calculation manual
For: Power System Studies
EG-DGCM-E-01

1.1 LOAD FLOW STUDIES

4.0

CONCLUSION :
Due to involvement of extensive iterations, load flow studies for a complex Electrical
Network can not be carried out manually. Therefore, ETAP software is utilized for the
same. The ETAP software can be used for the following techniques for carrying out the
load flow study.
i)
ii)
iii)

Accelerated Gauss Siedel Method.

Newton-Raphson Method.
Fast Decouple Method

However, Newton-Raphson Method is recommended by the ETAP as most preferred

method.
A sample load flow study of a typical distribution network ( picked-up from Chevron
Manual ) and interpretation of outputs is shown in the Calculations section.

Page 8of 109