Power flow for general mixed distribution networks

Summary The contemporary concept of Smart Distribution Grid motivates researchers to develop more and more efficient Distribution Management System (DMS) as the basic platform of this concept. This paper deals with power flow as the basic DMS calculation. Procedures for this calculation are usually classified as branch oriented [back/forward sweeping (BFS)] and bus oriented [current injection and Newton/Raphson derivatives]. The first class is favored in this paper. An industry grade generalized BFS (GBFS) procedure is developed for power flow calculation of unbalanced distribution networks. The most complex distribution networks—“irregular” mixed networks—are particularly stressed. In addition, a very simple dealing with inductive and capacitive couplings between parallel overhead lines is presented. It is proven that GBFS is superior in comparison with other power flow procedures tailored for distribution networks—its robustness is at least equal to the robustness of other procedures, but its efficiency is significantly higher. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.