© JUN 2022 | IRE Journals | Volume 5 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Load Flow Analysis by Newton Raphson Method

VISHAL V. MEHTRE1, UTKARSH RAJ VERMA2
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Bharati
Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India
2
Student, Department of Electrical Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed
to be University), College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Abstract- Load flow solutions are necessary for uneconomical. Hence, the Newton-Raphson (NR)
planning, operation, economic scheduling, exchange approach is the most preferred general method. The
of power between utilities, etc. In the power system idea of this method starts with an initial guess which
load flow problems can be solved very effectively by is reasonably close to the true root, then the function is
Newton-Raphson method. This method is introduced approximated by its tangent line and one computes the
in 1961, Newton’s method is successive x- intercept of this tangent line, which is easily done
approximation procedure based on an initial with elementary algebra. This x-intercept with
estimate of unknown and the use of Taylors series typically be a better approximation to the function root
expansion. This method gives load flow solutions by than the original guess and the method can be iterated.
using reference standard bus and line data of system. Basically Newton’s method was first published in
In solution of load flow problem it gives magnitude 1685 in A Treatise of Algebra both historical and
of voltage at different buses as well as voltage angle, practical by John Wallis. In 1690 Joseph Raphson
line to line active and reactive power flow. This published, a simplified description in analysis
method has been used to obtain load flow solutions acqyationum universalis. Raphson again viewed
and it is tested on IEEE 30-bus system. But finding Newton’s method purely as an algebraic methods and
solution theoretically takes long time so power flow restricted its use to polynomials but he describes the
analysis is done by the use of MATLAB method in terms of successive approximation instead
programming of the more complicated sequence of polynomials used
by newton’s method. In this method memory required
Indexed Terms- load flow analysis, 30 bus system, is minimal and directly proportional to size of problem
iterations, convergence ,bus admittance matrix, and also the number of iterations for solution increases
jacobian matrix. with size of problem. But for the large problem, the
iterative methods are very effective. This paper
I. INTRODUCTION describes NR method to solve the load flow problem
which offer number of advantages than other load flow
Load flow problem can be solved by various methods solution methods [6].
viz. Gauss-Seidal, Newton Raphson, Fast Decoupled
load flow method. These methods are iterative in From the load flow studies, the voltage magnitudes
nature as the equations formed in the load flow and angles at each bus in the steady state can be
problem are nonlinear algebraic equations. Basically, obtained. Once the bus voltage magnitudes and their
iterative methods converge slowly and are subjected to angles are computed using the load flow, the real and
ill conditioned situations. Over the past few years, reactive power flow through each line can be
developments have been made in finding digital computed. Also the losses in a particular line can be
computer solutions for power system load flows. This computed. The over and under load conditions from
involves increasing the reliability and the speed of the load flow solution can also be determined [1].
convergence of the numerical-solution techniques [3]

In routine use, even few failures to give first-time

convergence for physically feasible problems can be

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 © JUN 2022 | IRE Journals | Volume 5 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2456-8880

II. LOAD FLOW ANALYSIS

N-R Load Flow in Distribution Systems-The

distribution systems usually fall into the category of ill
conditioned power systems for generic Newton-
Raphson like methods with its special features, such as
Radial or Weakly Meshed Topologies-Most of the
distribution systems are radial or weakly meshed
types. The increase in requirements for reliability and
outgoing distribution generation has made the
structure of distribution systems more complex.
Therefore, the power flow analysis in such Fig -1: IEEE 30 bus system
distributions Systems has become more difficult.
The IEEE 30-Bus Test System data is used as input in
High R/X Ratio of The Distribution Lines- the program to generate the load flow solution as
Transmission networks are composed mainly of shown in N-R program .test is carried out on 30 bus 6
overhead lines thus; the ratio is usually lower than 0.5. unit system.30 bus 6 unit system is shown in fig (b)For
In distribution networks where both overhead lines load flow analysis by N-R method different problems
and cables are used, the R/X ratio is high ranging from in the system are taken and solution obtain by NR
0.5 to as high as 7, where high ratio values are method.
typically for low voltage networks.
III. NEWTON-RAPHSON METHOD
Unbalanced Operation-Three-phase unbalanced
orientation greatly increases the complexity of the This method was named after Isaac Newton and
network model, since phase quantities have to be Joseph Raphson. The origin and formulation of
considered including mutual couplings. Newton Raphson method was dated back to late
1960s. It is an iterative method which approximates a
Loading Conditions-Most of the load flow methods set of non-linear simultaneous equations to a set of
were developed assuming a static load model. But a linear simultaneous equations using Taylor’s series
practical load model is required for getting reliable expansion and the terms are limited to the first
results. approximation.

Dispersed Generation-Distributed generation is being

increasingly used to meet the fast load increase in the
deregulation era. The utilities have to analysis the
operating conditions of the radial-type systems with
distributed sources.

Non-Linear Load Models-Widespread use of non-

linear loads such as, rectifiers in distribution system
distorts the current drawn from the source. Usually the
commercial SCADA/DMS systems treat these
distribution systems as independent parts, i.e., HVAC
(high voltage a.c.) loop and MVAC (medium voltage
a.c.) or LVAC (low voltage a.c.) radial systems. Such
rough equivalence will cause inaccuracies in the
power flow solutions.
Fig -2: A typical bus of the power system

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3.1. Load Flow Algorithm 3 4 271.093 - 285.918 12.449 35.011

The Newton Raphson Procedure as Follow- 90.871
Step-1: Choose the initial values of the voltage
magnitudes |V| (0) of all np load buses and n − 1 angles Case2: The load at20 bus is increased by 40%from the
δ (0) of the voltages of all the buses except the slack base case values from (2.2+j0.7)MVA to
bus. (3.08+0.98j)MVA .Due to the Breakage of the line 1-
Step-2: Use the estimated |V|(0) and δ (0) to calculate a 2 it results in the overloading on two lines 1-3 and 3-4
total n − 1 number of injected real power Pcalc(0) and respectively .Determine active and reactive power
equal number of real power mismatch ΔP (0) . flows through line 1-3 and 3-4.also line losses only
Step-3: Use the estimated |V| (0) and δ (0) to calculate a from 1-3 and 3-4.
total np number of injected reactive power Qcalc(0) and
equal number of reactive power mismatch ΔQ (0) . Case2 Result: Power flow solution by Newton
Step-4: Use the estimated |V| (0) and δ (0) to formulate Raphson ,No of iterations :10
the Jacobin matrix J (0) . Step-4: Solve (4.30) for δ (0)
and Δ Table-2: Power flow solution by Newton Raphson for
|V| (0) ÷ |V| (0). case2
Step-5: Obtain the updates from Fro To Mw Mvar Mva Mw Mvar
m Lin load load gen. gen.
(A) Lin e bus bus bus bus
e
1 3 309.0 78.6 318.8 41.0 164.1
52 22 95 57 46
(B) 3 4 265.5 - 279.3 11.7 33.06
Step-6: Check if all the mismatches are below a small 95 86.7 96 72 0
number. Terminate the process if yes. Otherwise go 25
back to step-1 to start the next iteration with the
updates given by (A) and (B). CONCLUSION

3.2 Cases This paper considers two different cases for two buses
Examples in which increased the load bus data and find the
Case1: The load at10 bus is increased by 90%from solutions by using Newton Raphson method. After
the base case values from (5.8+j2.0)MVA to increasing the value of load bus data, the results which
(11.02+3.8j)MVA .Due to the Breakage of the line 1- obtained includes the various parameters likes active
2 it results in the overloading on two lines 1-3 and 3-4 power flowing through each line, reactive power
respectively .Determine active and reactive power flowing through each line, voltage magnitude at each
flows through line 1-3 and 3-4.also line losses only bus, reactive power injected in the system and total
from 1-3 and 3-4. line losses has been obtain. application of Newton
Raphson method for load flow analysis gives the
Case1 Result: Power flow solution by Newton advantages as it is faster, more accurate, and more
Raphson ,No of iterations :10 reliable than any other known method for any size or
any kind of problem. Because of computer memory
Table-1: Power flow solution by Newton Raphson for restrictions, present experience has been limited to the
case1 polar formulation of this method; an alternative
From To Mw Mvar Mva Mw Mvar rectangular formulation, having identical convergence
Line Line load load gen. bus gen.bus properties, might prove more advantageous when
bus bus computer memory is not critical. but it does not
1 3 316.891 43.398 173.760 perform satisfactorily for systems with high R/X
84.088 327.858 ratios.

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