Decoupled load flow for large-scale multiphase distribution networks

Abstract

The load flow procedure is the base procedure for various power applications in the distribution management systems. The modern distribution networks are significantly larger than the old ones and the need for the accurate and fast load flow calculation is understandable. This paper presents a decoupled model of consumers, line sections, and three-phase transformers which are integrated in the proposed backward–forward sweep procedure. The radialization procedure for the multi-phase weakly-meshed distribution networks has also been introduced. The decoupled load flow procedure has been presented in detail with its performance evaluated when applied on large-scale distribution networks. The results show that the speedup of the decoupled backward–forward procedure compared to the traditional coupled based one is up to 90%. The decoupled solution is more suited for the concurrent approach which will be analyzed in the future work.