International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01
Improved Algorithm of Newton Raphson Power
Flow using GCC limit based on
Neural Network
Mat Syai’in#1, 2, Adi Soeprijanto#1,
#1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS)
Surabaya-Indonesia
#2
Department of Marine Electrical Engineering, Surabaya Shipbuilding State Polytechnic (PPNS-ITS)
Surabaya-Indonesia
matt.syaiin@gmail.com
Abstract— Power flow is very important tool for analysis
power systems. One of the best power flow methods is Newton
Rahpson. The current algorithm of Newton Rhapson power flow
still used rectangular limit (Pmin-Pmax /Qmin-Qmax) to represent
generator capability curve (GCC). Using rectangular limit is not
optimum because it is ignore some are inside GCC. Although less
optimum the rectangular limit is still used in many power
systems applications, because using GCC as limit in power flow
needs complicated mathematical equation. Neural Network (NN)
is one of the best methods in imitating a curve. In this paper NN
is employed to imitate GCC to limit the operating point of
generator in power flow using security check algorithm. The
Advantages of using GCC based on NN as power flow limit is can
minimize the complicated mathematical equations. Also the
algorithm is very simple and accurate especially in representing
the operating point near steady state limit.
Index Terms— Newton-Raphson, Power-Flow, Generator
capability Curve, Neural-Network, Constructive back-
propagation.
I. INTRODUCTION
P ower flow is very important tool for the analysis power
systems and it is used in operational and planning. The
objective of power flow is calculating unspecified bus voltage
angles and magnitudes, active and reactive powers, as well as
line loadings and their associated real and reactive losses for
certain generation and load conditions.
Since the middle of the last century, many methods were
proposed to solve this problem. In 1954 Dunstan [1] was
demonstrated a digital method for solving power flow
problem. In 1956 Ward and Hale [2] also have credited the
successful digital formulation and solution of the power flow
problem. Still relating to computer application, In 1967
Tinney and Walker [3] introduced the optimally ordered and
sparsity-oriented programming techniques to improve the
computational time in computer application. In 1974 Brian
Stott was introduced Newton–Raphson (NR) method [4], as
well as the decoupled [5] and fast decoupled (FD) power flow
approaches [6]. The NR usually converges faster than other
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7
methods, but it takes longer computational time per iteration.
The including [3] in Newton based method was made the
Newton’s methods became standard application in industry[7].
Nowadays, the power systems become bigger and more
complicated [8-12], The Newton based technique was
developed and combined with other methods to get better
performance [13-14]. The influenced of equipment especially
power electronics component was made the power quality has
a harmonics inside, the [15] was used the decoupled Newton
to get faster process iteration in accounting converter model in
iterative process. Until Now, the Newton based technique still
can solve some power system problem, but the operating point
of power source (generator) is not enough if it just be operated
using rectangular constraint.
The proposed method in this paper is concern in accounting
any kind of limit generation, not only line and curve but also
combination of line and curve with discontinuities. Actually
the proposed methods can be applied in any kind of curve, but
in this paper only simulated the GCC model [16] for limit
operating point of generator in power flow application. The
Neural Network (NN) [17-18] is employed to imitate the GCC
to eliminate the complicated of mathematical equation. The
security check algorithm also developed to make a simple in
checking limit.
The organization of the rest of the paper is as follows. In
Section II, how GCC based on NN can easily corporate in NR
power flow will be described, starting from overview NR
power flow, how to imitated GCC using NN and how to
security check algorithm is including in NR power flow. In
Section III, the IEEE data test 30 bus is used to verify the
proposed methods. Finally, a conclusion is given in Section
IV.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Overview of Newton Raphson Power Flow
NR widely used for solving simultaneous nonlinear
algebraic equation by successive approximation procedure
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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 8

based on an initial estimate of unknown variable. Now, ∂Qi

∂δ j
(
= − Vi Yij cos θ ij − δ i + δj ) j≠i
considering one-dimensional equation given by (1)
f ( x) = c (16)
(1)
The Newton iterations process is [19]: The equation of J4.
xi( k +1) = xi( k ) + ∆xi( k )
∂Qi
∂ Vi
= −2 Vi Y ii sin θ ii − ∑ V j Yij sin θ ij − δ i + δj( )
(2) j ≠i
(17)
∆c k
∆xi( k ) =
 df 
k (3)
∂Qi
∂ Vi
= −2 Vi Y ii sin θ ii − ∑ V j Yij sin θ ij − δ i + δj( )
  j ≠i
 dx  (18)
Now the eq. (1-3) will be used to solve the power flow
problem. The equation model for power flow are described as Each iteration, the value of P and Q need to check within
follow [4, 19]: the limits or not. If the P is greater than Pmax and Q is
n greater than Qmax so the P and Q are sets equal to Pmax
Pi = ∑ Vi V j Yij cos(θ ij − δ i + δ j )
j =1 and Qmax respectively. If the P is less than Pmin and Q is
(4) less than Qmin so the P and Q are sets equal to Pmin and
n
Qi = − ∑ Vi V j Yij sin(θ ij − δ i + δ j )
Qmin respectively. Fig.1. show the NR algorithm
j =1 including checking the P-Q limits.
(5) START

The variables that need to optimize from (4) and (5) are δ and
Data preparation, data structure
|V| so the iterations (2) can be written as follows: (load data, Admittance data)

δ i( k +1) = δ i( k ) + ∆δ i( k )
(6)
( k +1)
= Vi (k )
+ ∆ Vi (k ) Construct
Vi Ybus
(7)
The eq. (3) can be written as (8-10)
−1 Initialize
 ∆δ   J1 J 2   ∆P  Voltage and Q according to

 =    the kind of buses

∆ | V |  J 3 J 4   ∆Q 
(8)
Construct Jacobian matrix
∆Pi( k ) = Pi sch − Pi( k ) according to the kind of
buses (eq.11-18)
(9)
∆Qi( k ) = Qisch − Qi( k ) Iteration k=1
(10)

The J1, J2, J3, and J4 actually are related to kind of buses, for Calculated P and Q
according to the kind of
PV-buses the variable need to optimize are δ and Q, and for buses using eq.(4) and (5)

PQ-buses the variable need to optimize are δ and |V|, so J1, J2,
No For PV-bus
J3, and J4 can be written as follows: Check
Q > Qmax

No For PV-bus Yes

Check Iteration
Set Q=Qmax k=k+1
The equation of J1. Q < Qmin
And change bus status

∂Pi
become PQ bus
Yes
= ∑ Vi V j Yij sin(θ ij − δ i + δ j )
∂δ i j ≠1
Set Q=Qmin
And change bus status Construct Jacobian matrix
become PQ bus according to the kind of
(11) buses (eq.11-18)
∂Pi
= − Vi V j Yij sin(θ ij − δ i + δ j ) j≠i
∂δ j
Yes
(12)
Any bus status changed

The equation of J2.

∂Pi
( )
No
= 2 Vi Y ii cos θ ii + ∑ V j Yij cos θ ij − δ i + δj No
∂ Vi j ≠i Error < tolerance

(13)
∂Pi
( )
Yes

= Vi Yij cos θ ij − δ i + δj j≠i Calculated power

∂Vj flow and loss

(14)

The equation of J3. STOP

∂Qi
= ∑ Vi V j Yij cos(θ ij − δ i + δ j )
∂δ i j ≠1
(15)
Fig.1: Newton Raphson power flow

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01
The checking limit methods was used in Fig.1 is rectangular
limit (Pmin-Pmax /Qmin-Qmax ). The dashed line is procedure to
limit P and Q, many power flow program applied rectangular
limit [5, 19-20] [21] as a checking limit. Some commercial
software [22] used the several line to construct GCC, this
method better than just rectangular. Actually limit for
operating point of generator is GCC, but it is to complicate
applying in power flow. The proposed method is introducing
the easy algorithm to account GCC limit in power flow based
on NN to replace dashed line procedure, the detail process will
be described in the next subsection.
B. Develop neural network (NN) models for generator
capability curves(GCC) limits
The proposed NN model for a generator capability curve
is very straightforward as it only has one input, one output and
one hidden layer, as shown in Fig. 2. The number of neuron in
hidden layer is constructed automaticaly by using constructive
backpropagation method [18].
Fig.2: NN model for generator capability curve
The input data used in the training process are the sampling
point data along the GCC line curves provided by generator
manufactures’ data sheet. Since the GCC is spanned over a
plane, it has two directions  x and y directions.
Fig. 3. The illustration of the input and output
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This makes the computation extremely difficult. To simplify
the computation process, we convert all the (P, Q) pairs into
the polar coordinates, (R,θ) pairs as shown in Fig. 3. Once θ is
chosen, we only need to compute the length, R. Therefore, θ
will be our input for the training process and R will be the
output of the NN. The proper weighting and number of
neurons in the hidden layer are then determined to construct
the complete GCC curves. The one of results Comparison
between GCC data sheet and GCC based on NN can be seen
in Fig.4.
PAITON CAPABILITY CURVE
GCC data sheet
600
GCC based on NN
400
Reactive Power(MVar)
200
0
-200
-400
-600
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Active Power(MWatt)
Fig. 4. Comparison between GCC data sheet and GCC based
on NN
C. Develop a Security Check Routine.
Once the GCC based on NN built, it can be used as
reference limit using security check algorithm[23]. The
proposed method of security check algorithm can be
accomplished in the following three steps:
1. The converged P, Q values are first converted into polar
pairs (R, θ).
2. The value of θ can be used to determine the distance
from the origin to the GCC curve, Rref, as shown in Fig.
5.
3. The generator security can be checked by comparing the
value of R and Rref. If R ≤ Rref, the converged P, Q are
within the safety limits; otherwise, they are set to the
values converted from (Rref, θ), as shown in Fig.6.
D. Improved of algorithm Newton Raphson Power Flow
using GCC limit based on NN
The proposed method is replacing the dashed line in Fig.1
using security check algorithm based on NN. The proposed
method algorithm can be seen in Fig.7. Principally, the
proposed method only modified the traditional P-Q limit
(rectangular) to GCC limit based on NN. The advantages of
the proposed method are easy to accounting the realistic GCC
without any complicated mathematical equation and also can
applied in any kind of curve.
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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 10

Fig. 5. Relationship between P,Q, θ, R and Rref

Q
θ = tan −1

R = P2 + Q2 Convert P and Q
become θ and R
Fig. 6. Relationship between P,Q, θ, R and Rref
Q
θ = tan −1
R = P2 + Q2
P
III. SIMULATION RESULT AND ANALYSIS

A. Data Simulation
The simulation data used are the IEEE data test 30 bus. To
show the advantages of using GCC limit based on NN, the
load data each buses is increased by 1.3 times.
Because of the IEEE data test 30 buses don’t have the GCC
data, it only provide (Pmin-Pmax/Qmin-Qmax) data. To verify the
proposed method the GCC data from [16] is adopted to
represent model of GCC in IEEE data test 30 bus , the scaling
is needed in matching the generator capacity.

B. GCC based on NN
The NN model used to model GCC has one input and one
output. The input is θ and the output is R. the range of θ are
between +90o and -90o, and R is magnitude of complex power.
The NN model only has 1 hidden layer with numbers of
neurons are 17, the activation function used is sigmoid. The
sigmoid choose because the output is R that always positive. Fig. 7. Newton Raphson power flow with limit GCC based on
After training process success with 1e-6 error tolerance, the NN
plotting between R data and R resulted by NN can be seen in
Fig.8. The number of data used in training process are 200
sampling point.

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 11

Comparison between GCC data and GCC based on NN

1
2
0.9 NR rectangular
1.5 NR GCC-NN

Mag. (p.u.)
0.8
1

0.7 0.5
R(pu)

0.6 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Bus Number
0.5
0

0.4

Angle. (rad)
-0.5
0.3
R by data
R by NN NR rectangular
0.2 NR GCC-NN
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 -1
Number of data (pu) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Bus Number
Fig. 8. Comparison between R data and R resulted by NN
Fig. 10. Voltage magnitude and angle each bus.
2
Fig. 8 shows that the value of R data and R resulted by NN are NR rectangular
exactly coincide both of them. The R values then convert to P 1.5 NR GCC-NN

Mag. (p.u.)
and Q according to their θ resulted the GCC as shown in 1
Fig.9.
0.5
Comparison between GCC data and GCC based on NN
1
GCC data 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
GCC NN Bus Number
0.8
0

0.6 -0.2
Angle. (rad)

-0.4
0.4 -0.6
Q(pu)

-0.8 NR rectangular
0.2 -1 NR GCC-NN

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0 Bus Number

Fig. 11. Voltage magnitude and angle each bus at load

-0.2 multiply by 1.3
-0.4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 Using the assumption that the GCC are as shown in Fig.12
P (pu) the GCC limit has more power that still can utilized (area
Fig. 9. Comparison between GCC data and GCC resulted by between inside curve and outside rectangular) .
NN
1
GCC limit
Rectangular limit
C. Result and Analysis 0.8

0.6
The result of simulation using IEEE data test 30 buses is
Reactive Power (pu)

shown in the Fig.10. Fig.10 shows that the magnitude and

0.4
angle of both limit are the same, this is occur because of there
is no P or Q over limit. The total losses is 17.698 (MW) for 0.2
active power and 22.359 (MVar) for reactive power.
The result will be different if all load data are multiply by 0
1.3, its mean, the load is increased 30%. On this load
conditions, all of PV buses (using rectangular limit ) are over -0.2
limits so the magnitude voltage cannot keep at set points. The
comparison between rectangular limit and GCC limit can be -0.4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
seen in Fig.11. The losses for rectangular limit on are 36.356 Active Power (pu)
(MW) for active power and 101.481 (MVar) for reactive
power. And the losses for GCC limit are 32.211 (MW) for
Fig. 9. Comparison rectangular limit and GCC limit.
active power and 78.698 (MVar) for reactive power.

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 International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 12 No: 01 12

It is clear, that using GCC limit can decrease the losses and
also can maintain the performance of system better than just
rectangular limit. Because of the capability generator are
utilized until the exact limit, all.
IV. CONCLUSION
The proposed method is success in replacing rectangular limit
using GCC based on NN as a limit in Newton Raphson power
flow. Using GCC limit the power flow still can keep the
voltages each bus at the set point when the load is increased
by 30%. At this load condition, Using GCC limit also can
reduce the losses by 11.401% for active power and -0.22451
for reactive power. The Algorithm of security checking limit
of proposed method is very easy because only use simple NN
model that only has one layer with 17 neurons. The checking
process is only doing in one variable, i.e. R resulted by root
square calculation and R resulted by NN.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Thank you to Power system simulation Laboratory,
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Department of Electrical Engineering ITS and Surabaya

Shipbuilding State Polytechnic for financial supporting.

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