NR Application to Power Flow

We first need to rewrite complex power equations

as equations with real coefficients
*
 n n
Si   Vi   YikVk   Vi  YikVk
*
Vi I i * *

 k 1  k 1
These can be derived by defining
Yik Gik  jBik
Vi Vi e ji  Vi  i
 ik i   k
Recall e j  cos  j sin 
0
Real Power Balance Equations
n n
j ik
Si  Pi  jQi  Vi  Yik*Vk*   i k
V V e (Gik  jBik )
k 1 k 1
n
  Vi Vk (cos ik  j sin  ik )(Gik  jBik )
k 1
Resolving into the real and imaginary parts
n
Pi   Vi Vk (Gik cos ik  Bik sinik )  PGi  PDi
k 1
n
Qi   Vi Vk (Gik sin ik  Bik cos ik )  QGi  QDi
k 1

1
Newton-Raphson Power Flow

In the Newton-Raphson power flow we use Newton's

method to determine the voltage magnitude and angle
at each bus in the power system.
We need to solve the power balance equations
n
Pi   Vi Vk (Gik cos ik  Bik sin  ik )  PGi  PDi
k 1
n
Qi   Vi Vk (Gik sin  ik  Bik cos ik )  QGi  QDi
k 1

2
Power Flow Variables

Assume the slack bus is the first bus (with a fixed

voltage angle/magnitude). We then need to determine
the voltage angle/magnitude at the other buses.
 2   P2 (x)  PG 2  PD 2 
   
   
 n   Pn (x)  PGn  PDn 
x   f ( x)  
V2 Q (x)  QG 2  QD 2 
   2 
   
   
 n 
V  Qn (x)  QGn  QDn 
3
N-R Power Flow Solution

The power flow is solved using the same procedure

discussed last time:
Set v  0; make an initial guess of x, x( v )
While f (x( v ) )   Do
( v 1) ( v ) 1
x  x  J (x
(v)
) f (x (v)
)
v  v 1
End While

4
Power Flow Jacobian Matrix

The most difficult part of the algorithm is determining

and inverting the n by n Jacobian matrix, J (x)
 f1 (x) f1 (x) f1 ( x) 
 x x2 xn 
 1

 f 2 (x) f 2 (x) f 2 (x) 
J (x)   x1 x2 xn 
 
 
 f (x) f n (x) f n ( x) 
 n 
 x1 x2 xn 
5
Power Flow Jacobian Matrix, cont’d

Jacobian elements are calculated by differentiating

each function, fi ( x), with respect to each variable.
For example, if fi (x) is the bus i real power equation
n
fi ( x)   Vi Vk (Gik cos ik  Bik sin  ik )  PGi  PDi
k 1

fi ( x) n

 i
  Vi Vk (Gik sin  ik  Bik cos ik )
k 1
k i

fi ( x)
 Vi V j (Gik sin  ik  Bik cos ik ) ( j  i )
 j
6
Two Bus Newton-Raphson Example

For the two bus power system shown below, use the
Newton-Raphson power flow to determine the
voltage magnitude and angle at bus two. Assume
that bus one is the slack and SBase = 100 MVA.
Line Z = 0.1j

One 1.000 pu Two 1.000 pu

0 MW 200 MW
0 MVR 100 MVR

2    j10 j10 

x    Ybus   
 V2   j10  j10  7
Two Bus Example, cont’d

General power balance equations

n
Pi   Vi Vk (Gik cosik  Bik sin ik )  PGi  PDi
k 1
n
Qi   Vi Vk (Gik sin ik  Bik cosik )  QGi  QDi
k 1
Bus two power balance equations
V2 V1 (10sin  2 )  2.0  0
V2 V1 ( 10cos  2 )  V2 (10)  1.0  0
2

8
Two Bus Example, cont’d

P2 (x)  V2 (10sin  2 )  2.0  0

Q2 (x)  V2 (10cos 2 )  V2 (10)  1.0  0
2

Now calculate the power flow Jacobian

 P2 (x) P2 (x) 
  V 2 
J ( x)   2

 Q 2 (x) Q 2 (x) 
   V 2 
 2

10 V2 cos 2 10sin  2 

 
10 V2 sin  2 10cos 2  20 V2 
9
Two Bus Example, First Iteration

0
Set v  0, guess x (0)
 
1 
Calculate
 V2 (10sin  2 )  2.0   2.0 
f(x )  
(0)
  1.0 
 V2 (10cos 2 )  V2 (10)  1.0 
2
 
10 V2 cos 2 10sin  2  10 0 
J (x )  
(0)
   0 10 
10 V2 sin  2 10cos 2  20 V2   
1
0  10 0   2.0   0.2 
Solve x (1)
   1.0    
  
1 0 10     0.9 
10
Two Bus Example, Next Iterations
 0.9(10sin(0.2))  2.0  0.212 
f(x )  
(1)
 
0.9(10 cos(0.2))  0.9  10  1.0  
2 0.279 
 8.82 1.986 
J (x )  
(1)

 1.788 8.199 
1
 0.2   8.82 1.986  0.212   0.233
x 
(2)
       
 0.9   1.788 8.199   0.279   0.8586 
 0.0145  0.236 
f(x )  
(2)
 x (3)
  
 0.0190   0.8554 
0.0000906 
f(x )  
(3)
 Done! V2  0.8554  13.52
 0.0001175 
11
Two Bus Solved Values

Once the voltage angle and magnitude at bus 2 are

known we can calculate all the other system values,
such as the line flows and the generator reactive
power output
200.0 MW -200.0 MW
168.3 MVR Line Z = 0.1j -100.0 MVR

One 1.000 pu Two 0.855 pu -13.522 Deg

200.0 MW 200 MW
168.3 MVR 100 MVR

12
 Two Bus Case Low Voltage Solution
This case actually has two solutions! The second
"low voltage" is found by using a low initial guess.
 0 
Set v  0, guess x (0)
 
 0.25 
Calculate
 V2 (10sin  2 )  2.0   2 
f(x )  
(0)
   0.875
 V2 (10 cos 2 )  V2 (10)  1.0 
2
 
10 V2 cos 2 10sin  2   2.5 0 
J (x )  
(0)
   0 5
10 V2 sin  2 10 cos 2  20 V2   
13
 Low Voltage Solution, cont'd
1
 0   2.5 0   2   0.8 
Solve x  
(1)
       
 0.25   0  5   0.875   0.075 
1.462  (2)  1.42   0.921
f (x )  
(2)
 x   x 
(3)

 0.534   0.2336   0.220 
Low voltage solution
200.0 MW -200.0 MW
831.7 MVR Line Z = 0.1j -100.0 MVR

One 1.000 pu Two 0.261 pu -49.914 Deg

200.0 MW 200 MW
831.7 MVR 100 MVR

14
PV Buses

 Since the voltage magnitude at PV buses is fixed

there is no need to explicitly include these voltages
in x or write the reactive power balance equations
– the reactive power output of the generator varies to
maintain the fixed terminal voltage (within limits)
– optionally these variations/equations can be included by
just writing the explicit voltage constraint for the
generator bus

|Vi | – Vi setpoint = 0

15
Three Bus PV Case Example
For this three bus case we have
 2   P2 (x)  PG 2  PD 2 
x   3  f (x)   P3 (x)  PG 3  PD3   0
   
 V2   Q2 (x)  QD 2 
Line Z = 0.1j

0.941 pu
One 1.000 pu Two -7.469 Deg

170.0 MW 200 MW
68.2 MVR 100 MVR
Line Z = 0.1j Line Z = 0.1j

Three 1.000 pu

30 MW
63 MVR
16
Modeling Voltage Dependent Load

So far we've assumed that the load is independent of

the bus voltage (i.e., constant power). However, the
power flow can be easily extended to include voltage
depedence with both the real and reactive load. This
is done by making PDi and Q Di a function of Vi :
n
 Vi Vk (Gik cos ik  Bik sin  ik )  PGi  PDi ( Vi )  0
k 1
n
 Vi Vk (Gik sin  ik  Bik cos ik )  QGi  QDi ( Vi )  0
k 1
17
Voltage Dependent Load Example

In previous two bus example now assume the load is

constant impedance, so
P2 (x)  V2 (10sin  2 )  2.0 V2
2
 0
Q2 (x)  V2 (10 cos  2 )  V2 (10)  1.0 V2  0
2 2

Now calculate the power flow Jacobian

10 V2 cos 2 10sin  2  4.0 V2 
J ( x)  
10 V2 sin  2 10 cos 2  20 V2  2.0 V2 

18
Voltage Dependent Load, cont'd

0 
Again set v  0, guess x (0)
 
1 
Calculate
 V 2 (10sin  2 )  2.0 V2
2   2.0 
f(x )  
(0)
  
 V2 (10 cos 2 )  V2 (10)  1.0 V2 
2 2
1.0 
10 4 
J (x )  
(0)

 0 12 
1
0  10 4   2.0   0.1667 
Solve x (1)
   1.0    
  
1 0 12     0.9167 
19
Voltage Dependent Load, cont'd

With constant impedance load the MW/Mvar load at

bus 2 varies with the square of the bus 2 voltage
magnitude. This if the voltage level is less than 1.0,
the load is lower than 200/100 MW/Mvar
160.0 MW -160.0 MW
120.0 MVR Line Z = 0.1j -80.0 MVR

0.894 pu
One 1.000 pu Two -10.304 Deg

160.0 MW 160 MW
120.0 MVR 80 MVR

20
Solving Large Power Systems

 The most difficult computational task is inverting the

Jacobian matrix
– inverting a full matrix is an order n3 operation, meaning
the amount of computation increases with the cube of the
size size
– this amount of computation can be decreased substantially
by recognizing that since the Ybus is a sparse matrix, the
Jacobian is also a sparse matrix
– using sparse matrix methods results in a computational
order of about n1.5.
– this is a substantial savings when solving systems with
tens of thousands of buses
21
Newton-Raphson Power Flow

 Advantages
– fast convergence as long as initial guess is close to
solution
– large region of convergence
 Disadvantages
– each iteration takes much longer than a Gauss-Seidel
iteration
– more complicated to code, particularly when
implementing sparse matrix algorithms
 Newton-Raphson algorithm is very common in
power flow analysis
22