2009 2nd International Conference on Power Electronics and Intelligent Transportation System

The Back/Forward Sweep-based Power Flow Method

for Distribution Networks with DGs
Limei Zhang, Wei Tang, Honghao Guan
College of Information and Electrical Engineering
China Agricultural University
Beijing, China
Imzhch@yahoo.com.cn, wei _tang@cau.edu.cn
Abstract-Power system deregulation and the shortage of
transmission capacities have led to increased interests in
distributed generation sources (DGs). The high penetration of
distributed generation (DG) units at the distribution level have a
profoundly influence on grid security, operation, planning, etc.
Therefore, based on the back/forward sweep methods, this paper
presents a power flow method for radial distribution networks
with DGs. To improve robustness and enhance convergence rate
of the solution method, we developed an efficient branch and
nodal numbering scheme and employed variable step-size factor
and next-linked branch matrix. Meanwhile, a computer program
implementing the solution scheme was developed and successfully
applied to several practical and complex radial distribution
networks. The results show that the proposed method has
excellent convergence rate and is simple, flexible, reliable and
very robust while maintaining necessary accuracy. It is available
to calculate power flow for radial distribution network with
multi-source and multi-type DGs. The solutions are given and
compared with the results acquired with existing software to
verify the proposed approaches.
Index Terms-distributed generation, distribution network,
power flow calculation, BackIForward Sweep
I. INTRODUCTION
Under the impetus of the need for more flexible electric
systems, energy saving and environmental protection, etc.,
distribution generation (DG) has become an important part of
electrical generation and its significance is still continuing to
increase. DG is the use of very small power generation
technologies normally installed within consumers' premises
and connected to the distribution level. Proper installation of
DG in power systems can produce plenty of substantial interest
such as reducing power losses and on-peak operating costs,
improving voltage profiles, deferring or eliminating for system
upgrades, etc. [1-3]. However,high emergence of DG units at
the distribution level have a profoundly influence on grid
security, operation, planning, etc. [4-5]. New analysis tools are
required for understanding and quantifying these impacts.
As the basis of analyzing above impacts, the power flow
computation is indispensable and very important to quantify
them. So far, the methods proposed for solving distribution
power flow analysis are essentially classified into three
categories: direct methods, backward/forward sweep methods
and Newton-Raphson (NR) methods[6]. The advantage and
978-1-4244-4543-1/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE
145
Limei Zhang
College of Information Science & Technology
Agricultural University ofHebei
Baoding, China
disadvantage of these techniques were described in [7-9]. Due
to frequent emergence of DGs with different sizes and various
categories, the traditional power flow methods cannot be
employed directly [10]. Some research works have been
published about power flow method for distribution networks
with DGs. Direct to distribution systems with DGs, an adaptive
compensation-based power flow method was presented in [2].
Based on the direct methods, [7] used the sensitivity
compensation method to analyze the distribution power flow
with DGs. In [8], a compensation-based power flow method
was used to a DG system with PVnode.
Compared with the NR method and the direct method, the
back/forward sweep method is simple, flexible, reliable, and
didn't need Jacobian matrix and its inverse, but it is not suitable
for the case of multi-source. Therefore, this paper presents a
improved back/forward sweep-based power flow method for
distribution network with DGs. To improve robustness and
enhance convergence rate of the solution method, we
developed an efficient branch and nodal numbering scheme and
employed variable step-size factor and next-linked branch
matrix. The feasibility of the algorithm have been tested with a
series of test system. The results show that the proposed
method is not only flexible, robust and reliable but also has
excellent convergence rate while maintaining necessary
accuracy. It is available to calculate power flow for radial
distribution network with multi-source and multi-type DGs.
The solutions are given and compared with the results acquired
with existing software to verify the proposed approaches.
II. THE POWER FLOW MODELING FOR
DISTRIBUTIONNETWORK
It is well known that power flow calculation for distribution
system has been viewed as a very large and complex problem
due to its widely ranging resistance and reactance values. The
calculation difficulty can be conceivable after integrating DGs
into the distribution network. Therefore, in order to reduce
computing dimension and enhance convergence rate while
maintaining necessary accuracy, the comprehensive models are
addressed and simplified in this section.
A. Branch
Branches are used to model physical lines and transformers.
Considering the complexity of distribution networks, under the
premise that there are little impacts on the computation results,
PElTS 2009
this paper adopts simple line and transformers models. And
branch model is viewed as combination of line and transformer
illustrated in Figure 1. Subscripts s.m. k stand for primary node,
secondary node and branch number, both i and j are nodal
number.
For model II, active power and voltage magnitude is
constant while reactive power is unknown, which is not in
accordance with the needs of back/forward sweep method. To
solve this problem, we first assume initial reactive power, then
employ step-size factor A to adjust iteration reactive power
injection based on the voltage magnitude mismatch. The
principal of adjustment is that the reactive power at the k
th
iteration is increased when the voltage magnitude value
at the k-I th iteration is smaller than the known voltage
magnitude of model II, and vice verse. The equation is
Figure I. The model for branch power flow (4)
The primary and secondary power model is expressed as
follows:
where the voltage magnitude mismatch is calculated from
where p", Q" is power between line and transformer, 1',,,, Q",
is primary power for next-linked branch, L LQ Load
denotes the nodal loads.
Considering small transversal voltage drops, voltage
magnitude is expressed by Taylor formula omitted higher-order
infinitesimal. Then, the nodal voltage is calculated from
Figure 2. The schematic for model IIIII!
(5)
--- +. -F
For model III, under the premise of initial reactive power
injection, the function for the reactive power and outgoing port
voltage magnitude is regarded as the correction equation.
Meanwhile, for the sake of the convenient calculation and
adjustment, model II or III is regarded as a new node and
connects with the bus by a branch shown in dashed line in
Figure 2. The branch has zero resistance and zero reactance,
while the node has negative power load equaled to negative
number of power for model II or III.
(1)
(2)

= L r: + L1'"
o. = Lz, +L Q"
where !'>. U, and aU, are the longitudinal and transversal
voltage drops respectively.
B. Distribution generation
Currently, the DO proposed in published literatures can be
essentially classified into constant PQ (model 1) units, constant
PV (model II) units and P is known while Q is the function of
outgoing port voltage magnitude U (model III) units. In order
to be in line with the characteristic of back/forward sweep
method, this paper takes all kinds of DOs as negative load
models. But, the specific power flow model for every DOs is
different due to their diversity.
For model I, its calculative approach of power flow is
almost same as general loads except that its value about active
power and reactive power is negative number.
OU
2
U =U -!1U + k
J t k 2(U
j-!1U
,)
I ( oU
k
)
O=O-tan- .
J ' U -!1U
, k
(3)
III. THE PROPOSED ALOORITHM
In our algorithm, the following assumptions are adopted to
formulate the problem: (1) regardless of its original topology,
the distribution network is first converted into a radial network.
(2) network before substation is regarded as equivalent voltage
source and the voltage value is a constant. (3) constant power
loads are distributed on different feeders. (4) The sum of DO
capacity is less than that all loads need.
According to these premises, the solution method is based
on the direct application of the back/forward sweep. For our
implementation, we developed an efficient branch and node
numbering scheme, employing variable step-size factor and
next-linked branch matrix to improve robustness and enhance
convergence rate of the solution method. These techniques are
described as follows.
A. Numbering scheme
The nodal numbering begins from zero bounding with the
voltage source at the slack bus to search every node along the
feeder, while the branch numbering is the same as the
secondary nodal number [5]. The numbering scheme for the
bus with DO is treated discriminately according to their various
categories. For model I (e.g. DOt), the nodal number is
146
Figure 3. The schematic for distr ibution network numbering
identical with the connected bus considering that its solution
method is the same as the general load. For model II (OG
2
) , the
new nodal number equaled to branch number is dispatched and
lager than any other nodal numbers so as to acquire or adjust
easily reactive value of OGs as well as improve the efficiency
of algorithm. For model III, the solution method is the same as
model II, but the nodal number is still larger than the nodal
code for model II. In addition, the connected branch number
keeps same with the node number. The distribution network in
Figure 3(a) numbered is shown in Figure 3(b).
nc ,
( 0'
the limitation. To improve convergence efficiencies while
keeping convergence accuracy, this paper corrects the reactive
power for model II in three stages by employing variable step-
size factor A
k
According to plenty of experiments and by
analyzing convergence characteristic of the back/forward
methods, the division of the stages is based on the iteration
number and errors of voltage magnitude.
The first stage generally represents one or two iterations. In
order to balance the impacts produced by model I and correctly
judge the relationship between the known voltage and iteration
voltage for model II, the value of step-size factor keeps
constant, which generally is zero (AI =0 ).
The second stage indicates the mismatch of voltage
magnitude satisfies 1OE (E is the preset error
tolerance). In order to improve the convergence rate, the step-
size factor (,1.2) is variable and calculated from
It is noted that reactive power of model II has normally
upper or lower limit in practice. To cope with these circulations,
the actual reactive power in the procedure is determined by
following (15).
h Q
k-I Qk-2 U
k
-
I
d U
k
-
2
h .
were /I ' /I ' /I an /I are t e reactive power
and voltage magnitude for model II at the k-l th and k-
2 iteration respectively.
The third stage shows Al.J < 10E. Considering that is
very small, the step-size factor is calculated from expresss
,1.3 =1/6.
(9)
(8)
(7)
(6)
if (-Q; " :<:; + ,1.8U :<:; _Q;in)
if + ,1.8 U :<:; - Q/7")
if +U U :2: - Q;;' )
Q
k-I _ Qk-2
A = /I /I
k Uk-I _ Uk-2
l/ /l

= U.(k) _ U(k-I)
, ,
= U,(k) - U,
where and are lower and upper limits of reactive
power for model II respectively.
D. Convergence criteria
With this procedure, the nodal voltage magnitude
difference expressed in (16) is taken as the convergence
criteria. The procedure does not stop until the max voltage
mismatch is within the preset error tolerance ([;). That is, the
condition of stopping perform procedure is to satisfy (9).
B. Next-linked branch matrix
The next-linked branch matrix, where row number
represents branch number and column denotes downstream-
connected branches number, is employed to know computation
sequence and improve efficiency of algorithm. The non-zero
element in matrix represents the number of downstream branch
while zero denotes there is no next-linked branch. Let us still
take figure 3(b) as an example. Considering the next-linked
branch number of one node is usually no more than five, so the
next-linked branch matrix of figure 3(b) is a 13x5 matrix which
is shown as above Next
13x5
The next-linked branches of branch
3 have 4, 7 and 12 as shown in the 3rd row of matrix. The 12th
and 13th row represent the model II and model III respectively.
2 II 0 0 0
3 10 0 0 0
4 7 12 0 0
5 6 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
Next
13x5
= 8 9 13 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
o 0 0 0 0
C. Variable Step-size factor
As that proposed in section II, the step-size factor A is
defined as the coefficience vector multiplied by voltage
magnitude mismatch to adj ust the reactive injection of model
II .However, plenty of experiments show that the convergence
rate of algorithm is directly related to the value of step-size
factor A. Generally, the larger the value A is, the better the
convergence rate is. But the off-convergence will happen if the
value A transcends the upper limitation, while the computation
time is too long if the value A is too small though it is still in
147
Caculate the nodal voltage magnitude difference
stop
D ESCRIPTION FOR DIFFERENT TEST CASES
H

..
"
"
10
"
II
"
"
u I
TABLE I.
Case System buses DG Number DG Location
code name Number (type)
CI TSI 20 5 (I) 5,8,11 ,13,14
C2 From[l] 4(1)+ I(II) (5,11,13,14) +(8)
C3 I (III) 8
C4 TS2 90 3(1)+I(II) (5,1 I , 40) +57
(IEEE90)
Figure 5. The topological structure for IEEE 90 bus system
For the sake of comparison and verifying validity of
solution, the model I information (capacity and location) for CI
and C2 is completely same as that in [5] while voltage
magnitude of model II for C2 is replaced by the results
computed in CI although this is not the same as the practical
circumstances. The feeder's voltage profile for CI and C2 is
shown in figure 6 which is completely overlap and is in
accordance with that in [5]. At bus 8 ofCI, when the injected
active and reactive power are 0.0034 (p.u.) and 0.0025 (p.u.),
the computed voltage magnitude is 0.99764 (p.u.). At bus 8 of
C2, when the injected reactive power and voltage magnitude
are 0.0034 (p.u.) and 0.99764 (p.u.), the injected reactive power
obtained from calculation is 0.00256. C3, of which active
power at bus 11 is 0.0242, is used to test feasibility of
procedure for III units using (10). The parameter for
synchronous generators is respectively Xd =0.0017, = 0.0424 .
Some nodal voltage is listed in Table II.
No
Yes
No
start
Print result
Correct reactive power inj ection of IIIII! DG
Init ialize the voltage for each node and the
reactive power for model IIIII!
Read network data
Figure 4. The flow chart for power flow algorithm
Caculate Next-linked branch matr ices
Acquire the sequence of line
Forwa rd sweep:caculate nodal voltage
Backward sweep:caculate primary
power ,secondary power
E. Description ofthe algorithm
Given the slack bus with the voltage at the root node, the
solution procedure will start with initial guess of voltage at
each node and reactive power injections for the node with
model II and/or model Ill. Then back/forward Sweep method is
employed repeatedly until reach the final solutions. Each
iteration of the procedure consists of three steps: backward
sweep (step 1), forward sweep (step 2) and mismatch
correction (step 3). In step 1, primary power, secondary power
(I), (2). In step 2, with the known primary voltage, the
secondary voltage is calculated from (3). In step 3, the nodal
voltage magnitude difference /),U is calculated by using (8).
Meanwhile, if (9) is not satisfied, the reactive power injection
of model 11 is corrected by (7). For model III, the function for
the reactive power and outgoing port voltage is employed to
correct the reactive power. The computational flow chart of the
proposed method is given in Figure 4.
Set iteration count m=Nm"
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed method has been programmed and tested in
two radial distribution networks, which come respectively from
[5] and IEEE90 bus system. The Table I shows the descriptions
of different test cases. The topological structure and data
information about TS2 can be found in [11], but here the
different numbering scheme is adopted. The figure 5 is the
topological structure chart with nodal number . All tested cases
assume that voltage base is 10 kV, power base is 10 MW and
convergence accuracy ( e ) is 10.
4

(10)
IEEE90 bus tested system further testified the general and
flexible of procedure. Table III shows the details of different
DO. Feeder's voltage profile is given in Figure 7. The solution
shows that the proposed method is suitable for larger scale
systems.
148
that the result of the former keeps more computation bit than
that of the latter.
V. CONCLUSION
The diversity and swiftly development of DG brings out all
kinds of new problems and make the complex power flow
become more and more complex. Aiming at these circulations,
this paper presents a improved back/forward sweep-based
power flow method for radial distribution networks with all
kinds of distributed generations. With the numbering scheme,
calculation sequence, DG model, and power flow process, the
proposed method is simple, straightforward, flexible, reliable,
computationally efficient and numerically robust. Extensively
experimental results have also shown that it is available of
coping with large scale radical distribution networks with
multi-source and multi-type DGs.
25 20

10 15
Nodal code for loads
TESTED RESULTS OBTAI NED FROM C3
5
TABLE II.

o
1.03
.E
Ql
"C
.2
'"
OJ

Ql
OJ
J!l
g
:l!j 0.99
o
z
Figure 6. The feeder's voltage profile for CI and C2
Figure 7. The feeder 's voltage profile for IEEE90 bus
.g
Q)
I '''\ r.f'J
1
i
> '"-or
1005
z

active reactive Voltage

D(.
power power Magnitude
(p.u.) (p.u.) (p.u.)
5 0.025 0.018
I
Bus II 0.034 0.025
DG
51 0.424 0.309
11 DG 57 0.0677 [0,0.75] 1.0127
In addition, in order to verify the right of the algorithm, the
results for C2 computed by the proposed method is analyzed
and compared with the results obtained from mathpower
software. The results show that they are almost identical. And
what's more, the result from the above method is more accurate
than that from mathpower software due to employing the
nominal value while not using the per-unit value. The reason is
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ACKNOWLEDGM ENT
One of us thanks the Key Projects in the National Science
& Technology Pillar Program in the Eleventh Five-year Plan
Period (2006BAJ04B06) for support this work.
REFERENCES
80
--without DG
- -with DG
TH E DETAILS FOR C4
40 60
Nodal code for loads
20
TABLE 111.
Load Voltage Voltage Reactive
node Magnitude(p.u.) AngIe(degree) power(p.u.)
0 1.0200 0.0000
I 1.0197 -0.0069
2 1.0041 -0.3436
7 0.9861 -0.6188
8 0.9853 -0.6271
9 0.9765 -0.7594
19 0.9550 - 1.5552
20 0.9547 -1.6010
21 0.9853 -0.6271 15.7471
1.025
<IJ
"C
'"
.Q 1.02
149