Power Flow – Gauss-Seidel

Method

Power systems 4
Gumede
Lecture #7

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 Power Flow Solution
• In power engineering, the power flow study (also
known as load flow study) is an important tool
involving numerical analysis applied to a power
system. Unlike traditional circuit analysis, a power
flow study usually uses simplified notation such as a
one-line diagram and per-unit system, and focuses
on various forms of AC power (ie: reactive, real, and
apparent) rather than voltage and current. It analyses
the power systems in normal steady-state operation.
There is a number of software implementations of
power flow studies.
• The following four variables are associated with
each bus k - voltage magnitude Vk, phase angle
deltak, net real power Pk and reactive power Qk
supplied to the bus. 2
 Power Flow Solution
The goal of a power flow study is to obtain complete voltage angle
and magnitude information for each bus in a power system for
specified load and generator real power and voltage conditions.
Once this information is known, real and reactive power flow on
each branch as well as generator reactive power output can be
analytically determined. Due to the nonlinear nature of this problem,
numerical methods are employed to obtain a solution that is within
an acceptable tolerance.

The solution to the power flow problem begins with identifying the
known and unknown variables in the system. The known and
unknown variables are dependent of the type of bus. A bus without
any generators connected to it is called a Load Bus. With one
exception, a bus with at least one generator connected to it is called
a Generator Bus. The exception is one arbitrarily-selected bus that
has a generator. This bus is referred to as the Slack Bus.

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Power Flow Solution

Eg
Is 
Zp
Z p  Zg

4
 Power Flow Solution
A load flow study is done on a power system to
ensure that:

•Generation supplies the demand (load) plus

losses.
•Bus voltage magnitudes remain close to rated
values
•Generation operates within specified real and
reactive power limits
•Transmission lines and transformers are not
overloaded.

The diagram in next page shows typical power network, its

IEEE 14 bus system used for study purposes. We would
like to calculate power flow using Matlab, DigSilent, PSSE
and other software tools. Both G-S and N-R methods can be
used.
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Power Flow Solution

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 Power Flow Equation
The starting point of a load flow problem is a
single line diagram of the power system as
shown in previous figure, from which input
data for computer solutions can be obtained:
•Input data consists of bus data (P, Q, V)
•transmission line data and (Z, Y)
•transformer data. (Turns Ratio, Z%)
•Y bus formation is next

There are several methods of solving the load flow

problem.
A)The Gauss-Seidel Method
B)The Newton -Raphson Method
C)Fast decoupled Method 7
 Power Flow Equation

• Consider a typical bus of a power system network as shown.

• Transmission lines are represented by their equivalent PI
models where impedance have been converted to per unit
admittance on a common MVA base.
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 Power Flow Equation

= yiiVi -yi1V1-yi2V2-...-yinVn

• From the above relationship, the mathematical formulation of the

power flow problem results in a systems of algebraic non-linear
equations which must be solved by iterative techniques 9
 Gauss-Seidel Equation

•Note k and k+1 are the iterations which are used for calculating
the value of Vi until the solution converges. It starts with k=0
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Power Injections

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 Power Injections
• In power flow study, we are required to solve the set of non-
linear equations for two unknowns at each bus. Vi is solved
using the sequence and yij is in lower case and it is the actual
admittance in pu taken directly from the network

Voltage
Magnitude
at bus i

Real
Power
at bus i

Reactive
Power at
bus 12i
 Gauss-Seidel Equation
Psch and Qsch are net real and reactive power expressed in pu. In
writing the KCL, current entering the bus i was assumed
positive. Thus, for bus where real and reactive powers are
injected into the bus, such as generator buses, Pisch and Qisch
have positive values. For load buses where real and reactive
powers are flowing away from the bus, Pisch and Qisch have
negative values.

The power flow is usual expressed in terms of the elements of

the bus admittance matrix. Remember that the off-diagonal
elements of the matrix Ybus are given in uppercase, are Yij = -yij
and the diagonal elements Yii = ∑yij. Yii includes the admittance
to ground of the line charging susceptance and any other fixed
admittance to ground. The equations in previous page will now
change to :

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Gauss-Seidel Equation

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 Gauss-Seidel Equation

Voltage magnitude at load buses are somewhat lower than the

slack bus depending on the reactive power demand whereas
the schedule voltage at the generator buses are somewhat
higher. The phase angles of load buses are below reference
angle in accordance with real power demand whereas the
phase angle of generator buses may be above the reference
value depending on amount of real power flowing into the bus.
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Gauss-Seidel Equation

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 Gauss-Seidel Equation
Where ei(k+1) and fi(k+1) are the real and imaginary components of the
voltage Vi (k+1) in the iterative sequence.
The rate of convergence is increased by applying an acceleration factor
to the approximate solution obtained from each iteration.
( k 1)
 Vi   (V ( k ) ical  V ( k ) i )
(k )
Vi
Where is acceleration factor. Its value depend upon the system.
The range of 1.3 – 1.7 is found to be satisfactory for typical systems.
The updated voltages immediately replace the previous voltage in the
solution of the subsequent equations.
The process is continues until changes in the real and imaginary
components of the bus voltages between successive iterations are
( k 1)
within a specified accuracy i.e. ei  e( k ) i  
( k 1)
fi  f (k )i  
For the power mismatch to be reasonably small and acceptable, a very
tight tolerance must be specified on both components of the voltage.
A voltage accuracy in the range of 0.00001 to 0.00005 pu is used. 17
 BUS ADMITTANCE MATRIX
After the iterative solution of bus voltages, the next step is the
computation of the line flows and line losses.

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 Solution
Admittance y12 = 1/z12 = 1/(0.02 + 0.04) = 10- j20, y13 = 10-j30 and
y23 = 16-j32

Buses 2 and 3 are taken as load buses as there are no

generators connected to them whereas bus1 is assumed to
be a slack bus.
The loads at bus2 is P + jQ =-( 2.566 + j1.102)pu and bus 3 is -
(1.386 + j0.452) pu. Negative means power is drawn from a
bus as opposed to be injected into a bus i.e. Gen bus.
We start from initial estimate of V2(0) = 1+j0 and V3(0) = 1+j0, (0)
means iteration 0 (zero) initial estimate.

 jQ2  jQ2
sch sch sch sch
P2 P2
y V  y23V3  Y12V1( 0)  Y23V3
( 0) ( 0) ( 0)
*(0 ) 12 1 *(0 )
V2 V2
 
(1)
V2
y12  y23 Y22
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 Solution
V2(1)= 0.9825 – j0.0310

 jQ3  jQ3
sch sch sch sch
P3 P3
y V  y23V2  Y13V3( 0)  Y23V2
(0) (1) (0)
*(0 ) 13 1 *(0 )
V3 V3
 
(1)
V3
y13  y23 Y33

V3(1) = 1.0011 – j0.0353

Now we go to second iteration:
Substitute previous values of V2 and V3 from iteration 1

This carries on until the solution converges i.e. The difference

between the current magnitude value and phase of the voltage at
bus 2 is within the accuracy of 0.00005. the same applies for V3.

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 Solution
Here is the solution to the problem starting with V2 at iteration1

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Solution

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Solution

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 Solution
S31 = V3I*31 = (1.0 –j0.05 (-2.0-j1.0) = -2.05 – j0.9 pu
= -205MW – j90Mvar
S23 = V2I23* = (0.98 –j0.06)(-0.656 – j0.432) = -0.656-j0.432 pu
=-656MW – j432Mvar
S32=V3I*32 = (1 – j0.05)(0.64 + j0.48) = 0.664 + j0.448 pu
=66.4 MW + j44.8Mvar
Line Losses
SL12 = S12 = S21 = 8.5MW + j17.0 Mvar
SL12 = S13 + S31 = 5.0 MW + j15.0 Mvar
SL23 = S21+S32 = 0.8MW + j1.6Mvar

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 Bus 1 Bus2

409.5MW 199.5MW 191MW

256.6MW
84Mvar 67Mvar
110.2Mvar
210MW 65.6MW
105Mvar 43.2Mvar
189Mvar

66.4Mvar

43.2Mvar
205MW
90Mvar

Bus3

138.6MW 45.2Mvar 25
 Example G-S
Example 2.
If the same network, is used bus 3 is now changed to generator bus.
Bus 1 is taken as a slack bus with voltage adjusted to 1.05 pu. At
bus 3, P injected to the bus is 200MW and the voltage magnitude is
|V3| = 1.04. In bus 2 the power drawn from the bus is 400MW and
250MVAR respectively and 100MVA base is used. Obtain a power
flow solution using G-S method. Calculate Q3, angle at bus3, V2 and
finally P1 and Q1.

But we need to be careful not to violate Reactive power limits of the

Generator. If that happens, the bus is converted to a load bus. The
generator can operate within the limits as it is not possible to keep
on generating power.

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Solution

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Solution

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Solution

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Solution

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 fb = linedata(:,1);% From bus number ...
tb = linedata(:,2);% To bus number...
r = linedata(:,3);% Resistance, R...
x = linedata(:,4);% Reactance, X...
b = linedata(:,5);% Ground Admittance, B/2...
z = r + i*x;% Z matrix...
y = 1./z;% To get inverse of each element...
nbus = max(max(fb),max(tb));% no. of buses...
nbranch= length(fb);% no. of branches...
ybus = zeros(nbus,nbus);% Initialise YBus...
% Formation of Off Diagonal Elements...
for k=1:nbranchybus(fb(k),tb(k)) = -y(k);
ybus(tb(k),fb(k)) = ybus(fb(k),tb(k));
end
% Formation of Diagonal Elements....
for m=1:nbus
for n=1:nbranch
if fb(n) == m | tb(n) == mybus(m,m) = ybus(m,m) + y(n) + b(n);
end
end
end
ybus
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