Linear power flow method improved with numerical analysis techniques applied to a very large network

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a fast linear power flow method using a constant impedance load model to simulate both the entire Low Voltage (LV) and Medium Voltage (MV) networks in a single simulation. Accuracy and efficiency of this linear approach are validated by comparing it with the Newton power flow algorithm and a commercial network design tool Vision on various distribution networks including real network data. Results show that our method can be as accurate as classical Nonlinear Power Flow (NPF) methods using a constant power load model and additionally, it is much faster than NPF computations. In our research, it is shown that voltage problems can be identified more efficiently when MV and LV are integrally evaluated. Moreover, Numerical Analysis (NA) techniques are applied to the Large Linear Power Flow (LLPF) problem with 27 million nonzeros in order to improve the computation time by studying the properties of the linear system. Finally, the original computation times of LLPF problems with real and complex components are reduced by 2.8 times and 5.7 times, respectively.