An Iterative Scheme for the Power-Flow Analysis of Distribution Networks based on Decoupled Circuit Equivalents in the Phasor Domain

Zain Anwer Memon,Riccardo Trinchero,Yanzhao Xie,Igor S. Stievano,Flavio G. Canavero

doi:10.3390/en13020386

Zain Anwer Memon, Riccardo Trinchero + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en13020386

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Abstract

This paper presents an alternative solution for the power-flow analysis of power systems with distributed generation provided by heterogeneous sources. The proposed simulation approach relies on a suitable interpretation of the power network in terms of a nonlinear circuit in the phasor domain. The above circuit interpretation can be solved directly in the frequency-domain via the combination of a standard tool for circuit analysis with an iterative numerical scheme, providing directly the steady-state solution of the power-flow of a generic distribution network. At each iteration, the resulting circuit turns out to be composed by two decoupled subnetworks, a large linear part and a set of smaller nonlinear pieces accounting for the load characteristics, with evident benefits in terms of the computational time. The feasibility and strength of the proposed simulation scheme have been verified on a large benchmark consisting of the IEEE 8500-node test feeder. Then it is applied to the statistical simulation of a power network accounting for the variability effects of renewable generators. According to the results, the proposed tool provides an effective alternative to the state-of-the-art approaches for power-flow analysis further highlighting the benefits of the application of well-established tools for circuit analysis to power-flow problems.

Highlights

From a very early time, the electrical power industry has faced many issues including generation-demand gap, reliability, planning, and operational back-offs and blackouts caused by weather and other external factors
A second test case consisting of a single-phase network with 90 nodes is solved via the proposed approach for the power-flow analysis by considering both the MATLAB and its implementation in a commercial simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE)-based solver (i.e., LTspice from analog devices is used in this comparison)
This paper addressed the compact modeling of a power distribution system using an alternative approach relying on a circuital interpretation of the network in terms of a nonlinear circuit in the phasor domain

Summary

Introduction

From a very early time, the electrical power industry has faced many issues including generation-demand gap, reliability, planning, and operational back-offs and blackouts caused by weather and other external factors In this framework, specific attention has been paid to the availability of modeling and simulation methods for both the transient and the steady-state assessment of the network state, including a possibly large number of different heterogeneous distributed generator sources (DGs), nowadays spread into the power distribution networks. Specific attention has been paid to the availability of modeling and simulation methods for both the transient and the steady-state assessment of the network state, including a possibly large number of different heterogeneous distributed generator sources (DGs), nowadays spread into the power distribution networks For the latter, several different analyses have been proposed in the literature including, power-flow, three phase-power flow, and harmonic analyses which have been proven to be mature tools successfully adopted in recent application problems [1,2,3,4].

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