Development of a Software Tool for Power Flow Analysis in a Distributed Generation Integrated Radial Distribution System

Abstract

Distribution system power flow analysis has significant differences when compared with that of transmission systems owing to their special topological properties. Hence, application of conventional power flow methods on ill-conditioned distribution systems brings out unsatisfactory results. Integration of distributed generation has caused the distribution system to become no longer passive in nature, highlighting the importance of more precise algorithms for power flow analysis. Solving power flow problems, which are mostly based on solving systems of non-linear algebraic equations can be efficiently done using software tools. However, most of the available software tools are focused on transmission systems and are very expensive. This study focuses on coming up with a software tool to solve power flow problems in distributed generation integrated radial distribution systems, which can be used as a teaching tool at universities. The proposed algorithm is based on the Forward Backward Sweep Method, and attempts have been made to model each distribution system component in a way that reflects the system parameters reasonably. Algorithm was tested on standard IEEE 4 Bus system, IEEE 13 Bus system and IEEE 15 Bus system, and the results were analyzed to assess the validity of the proposed algorithm.