Power Flow Tracing in Power Systems with Active and Reactive Circulating Power Flows

Abstract

Active and reactive power tracing can play an important role in achieving a fair electricity market because system operating, usage, and service costs are appropriately apportioned. However, the presence of power flows around a closed circular trajectory causes the application of commonly used tracing algorithms to fail, leaving power tracing an open question. To overcome this drawback, a novel methodology for tracing the active and reactive power considering the existence of circulating power flows (CPFs) is presented in this paper. The strategy consists of identifying branches possibly involved in this kind of flow and merging the involved buses into a supernode allowing the tracing algorithm to perform normally. Furthermore, the approach properly classifies transmission lines according to their behavior to accurately trace the reactive power flow. The methodology is tested using two power systems presenting diverse operating scenarios. The results demonstrate that the proposed tracing methodology appropriately handles CPFs, representing an advantage over previously proposed approaches.