ECE4053 Electrical Energy Generation and Supply: 2013

Tutorial 2 Load Flow Solutions

[Please note that original question text is in italics. Solutions are in normal text.]

In this example, a 600MW smelter load is supplied by two remote generators. The generator
at bus 1 controls its terminal voltage to 1.00pu and operates with automatic generation
control to maintain active power balance in the system. The generator at bus 2 controls its
terminal voltage to 1.02pu and is dispatched to supply a fixed 300MW of active power.

The transmission line from bus 1 to the load has an impedance of 150 ohms, and the line
from bus 2 to the load has an impedance of 200 ohms. Line resistances can be assumed
negligible. The entire network operates with a nominal voltage of 500kV.

1. For the purpose of load flow analysis, identify each of buses 1, 2 and 3 as a PQ bus, a
PV bus or a slack bus.

Bus 1 should be chosen as the slack bus, since it is specified that its active power varies.
Bus 2 is a PV bus as the generator operates with fixed voltage magnitude and active power.
Bus 3 is a PQ bus as its active and reactive power are specified but its voltage is not.

2. Determine the active power generated at bus 1.

The network is lossless, so load power is exactly equal to the sum of sent out power at the
two generators. Accordingly generated power at bus 1 = 600 300 = 300MW.

3. Calculate the per-unit impedance of each line and the per-unit active power at each
generator and the load. Use a system base S
b
= 100MVA.

The base impedance is Z
b
= 500 x 500 / 100 = 2500O.

Impedance from bus 1 to bus 3 = j150 / 2500 = j0.06pu, or 6%.
Impedance from bus 2 to bus 3 = j200 / 2500 = j0.08pu, or 8%.

Generator 1 active power = 300 / 100 = 3pu, or 300%.
Generator 2 active power = 300 / 100 = 3pu, or 300%.
Load active power = 600 / 100 = 6pu, or 600%.

(Note: as general engineering practice it is acceptable to quote percent values in place of per-
unit values as long as the scale of units is clear: pu or %. Observe also that it is quite
acceptable to work with a base power S
b
for the system that is smaller than power quantities
actually observed.)




600MW
300MW
79.2MVAr
1.02pu
1.00pu
j150O j200O
500kV
For the following questions, assume the smelter load is perfectly compensated and operates
with a net power factor of unity. Use the slack bus as the system phase reference, and
assume the generator at bus 2 supplies 79.2MVAr.

4. Calculate the current magnitude |I
2
| at bus 2. Hence determine the reactive power
Q
23
consumed in the line from bus 2 to the load, and the reactive power flow seen at
the load end of both lines. Carry out all calculations in the per-unit system.

Current at bus 2:
|I
2
| = |S
2
| / |V
2
| = sqrt(P
2
2
+ Q
2
2
) / |V
2
| = sqrt(3
2
+ 0.792
2
) / 1.02 = 3.042pu.

The reactive power consumed in a series reactance X is |I|
2
X where I is the line current.
(Why? Ohms law states that the voltage drop is jX times I. Accordingly the complex power
is S = VI* = (jXI) I* = j |I|
2
X, since I I* = |I|
2
. Q is just the imaginary part of S.)

Hence, reactive power consumed in line from bus 2 to the load:
Q
23
= |I
2
|
2
X
23
= 3.0422 x 0.08 = 0.740pu, or 74.0MVAr.

Therefore, reactive power at bus 3 end of the line = 0.792 0.740 = 0.052pu, or 5.2MVAr.
Keep in mind the implied sign convention: this number is still positive so it represents a flow
of 5.2MVAr reactive power into bus 3.

The load is assumed to operate at unity power factor, meaning that there is no active power
supplied or absorbed by the load at bus 3. But Kirchoffs current law implies that total
reactive power flows into bus 3 must balance. Therefore there must be a flow of 0.052pu or
5.2MVAr at the bus 3 end of the line from bus 1. This represents a flow of negative
reactive power into bus 3, or equivalently a flow of 5.2MVAr out of bus 3 toward the
generator at bus 1.

5. Express each phasor bus voltage in polar form as V
k
= |V
k
| exp(jo
k
), k = 1, 2, 3. In
terms of the V
k
, write the branch equations for the current I
13
in the line from bus 1 to
bus 3, and for the current I
23
in the line from bus 2 to bus 3. Identify the known and
unknown voltage magnitudes |V
k
| and angles o
k
in these equations.

The equations are:

I
13
=
1
Z
13
V
1
V
3
( )
=
1
Z
13
V
1
exp jo
1
( )
V
3
exp jo
3
( )
( )
=
1
j0.06
1 V
3
exp jo
3
( )
( )
,

I
23
=
1
Z
23
V
2
V
3
( )
=
1
Z
23
V
2
exp jo
2
( )
V
3
exp jo
3
( )
( )
=
1
j0.08
1.02exp jo
2
( )
V
3
exp jo
3
( )
( )
.

The only unknown voltage magnitude is |V
3
|. The unknown voltage angles are o
2
and o
3
.
(Remember that o
1
= 0 is implied by choosing bus 1 as the slack bus.)

6. Using the known values of active and reactive power at the load end of the line from
bus 1 to bus 3, determine the voltage magnitude and phase angle |V
3
| and o
3
at bus 3.
(Hint: use the two-bus load flow formulae from lectures.)

While it is possible to write down the actual node-voltage equations directly using the branch
equations found above, and solve them for the three unknown variables |V
3
|, o
2
and o
3
, it is
much easier to use the two-bus load flow formulae for the ratio |V
3
| / |V
1
| and for sin(o
3
).
Recall that to apply the ratio formula, you need the magnitude of |V| at one end of the line and
the power P and Q at the opposite end. This is information you have, because from previous
questions you know:

Active power P at the load end of the line from bus 1 = 300MW = 3pu (from Question 2, and
the fact that the line is lossless); and

Reactive power Q at the load end of the line from bus 1 = 0.052pu (from Question 4).

Hence:
= XQ / |V
1
|
2
= 0.06 x 0.052 / 1.0
2
= 0.00312 (remember the minus sign!)
= XP / |V
1
|
2
= 0.06 x 3 / 1.0
2
= 0.18
(|V
3
| / |V
1
|)
2
= 1/2 x (1 - 2 + sqrt(1 4( +
2
))) = 0.97293
|V
3
| / |V
1
| = 0.9864
Hence |V
3
| = 0.9864 x 1.0 = 0.9864pu, or 493kV.

The voltage angle o
3
can now be found using the sine formula from lectures.
Note that as the line is lossless, (|V
3
| / |V
1
|) sin o = XP / |V
1
|
2
, thus sin o = XP / |V
1
| |V
3
|,
where o is the difference o
1
o
3
.
Therefore for this line sin o = 0.06 x 3 / (1.0 x 0.9864) = 0.1826, and since o
1
= 0, one has o =
o
3
= 0.1836 rad. So o
3
= 0.1836 rad = 10.52. The bus 3 voltage lags the bus 1 voltage
by about 10 degrees.

7. Calculate the phasor current injection I
k
at each bus (k = 1,2,3), the voltage phase
angle o
2
at bus 2, and the reactive power supplied or absorbed at each generator.
Verify that this gives a complete load flow solution for the system: that is, provides the
voltage magnitude and angle at every bus, the active and reactive power at every
generator and load, and the active and reactive power flow at the from and to end
of every circuit branch.

It is convenient to calculate the voltage angle o
2
first. This is done using the sine formula just
as in the previous question, since we know the active power flow P and the voltage
magnitudes at each end of this line.
To get the sign convention right, observe that the power flow P is positive from bus 2 to bus
3, hence the angle difference calculated will be o = o
2
- o
3
:
sin o = 0.08 x 3 / (1.02 x 0.9864) = 0.2386, thus o = o
2
- o
3
= 0.2409 rad = 13.80.
Using o
3
= 10.52 from the answer to the previous question, one has o
2
= 13.80 10.52 =
3.28. So while voltage at bus 3 lags bus 1 by about 10 degrees, bus 2 leads bus 1 by a little
over 3 degrees.

The currents and powers can now be calculated from the voltages using the complex power
equation. At bus 3 for example, we have P
3
= 6pu and Q
3
= 0, so:
I
3
* = S
3
/ V
3
= (6) / 0.9864 exp(j10.52) = 6.083 exp(j10.52)
Thus I
3
= 6.083 exp(j10.52) = 5.981 + j1.111pu.
(NB. Take care with the sign of the imaginary part in this calculation!)

At bus 2, we already have P
2
= 3pu and Q
2
= 0.792pu, so:
I
2
* = S
2
/ V
2
= (3 + j0.792) / 1.02 exp(j3.28) = 3.103 exp(j14.79) / 1.02 exp(j3.28)
= 3.042 exp(j11.52), and so I
2
= 3.042 exp(j11.52) = 2.981 j0.608pu.
Observe that I
2
has the correct magnitude as calculated in Question 4, and also that the
current lags the voltage at bus 2 (the phase of I
2
is more negative than that of V
2
). This is
generally true for a generator that supplies reactive power. (For a load, on the other hand, the
current lags the voltage when the load absorbs reactive power.)

There are a number of ways to find the current at bus 1, but one of the simplest is to just use
the branch equation for I
13
from Question 5. Using |V
3
| = 0.9864pu and o
3
= 10.52 from
Question 6:
I
13
= (1 / j0.06) (1 0.9864 exp(j10.52))
= (j16.667) (1 0.9864 x (cos 10.52 j sin 10.52))
= (j16.667) (0.0302 + j0.1800)
= 3.000 j0.503.

From the network topology it is plain that the current injected at bus 1 will be the same as the
current flow from bus 1 to bus 3, and so I
1
= I
13
= 3.000 j0.503pu. With V
1
= 1pu, the
corresponding complex power is S
1
= V
1
I
1
* = 3.000 + j0.503pu = P
1
+ jQ
1
. So the generator
at bus 1 supplies active power of 3pu = 300MW (as you knew already) and also supplies
reactive power Q
1
= 0.503pu = 50.3MVAr. Once again the generator supplies reactive
power but its current lags the voltage in phase.

(A quick note on rounding errors! Depending on how many decimal places you use in the
calculation above you may find your value of Q
1
differs from the value 0.503pu correct to
three significant figures. It turns out that to obtain the correct value here you need the value
of |V
3
| = 0.9864pu correct to four significant figures. If you round this to three decimal places
as |V
3
| ~ 0.986pu, this results in the value Q
1
~ 0.510pu, which is incorrect in the third
decimal place. The reason for this error is that |V
3
| cos o
3
is close to 1, and so significant
figures are lost when you take the difference in the calculation for I
13
above. Load flow
calculations are particularly vulnerable to this loss of precision, and good power system
software will use advanced numerical methods to combat it.)

The network is now altered by inserting a 50MVAr capacitor bank in parallel with the load at
bus 3. This means the capacitor is sized to inject 50MVAr of reactive power when operating
at nominal voltage.

8. Calculate the susceptance B
3
of the capacitor bank in per-unit.

For a general shunt admittance Y = G + jB, the current drawn is I = YV = GV + jBV where V is
the phasor voltage at the bus. The complex power is
S = VI* = V(GV* jBV*) = (G jB) |V|
2
= P + jQ.
Therefore, any shunt admittance draws active power P = G|V|
2
and reactive power Q = B|V|
2
,
and these powers depend only on the magnitude of the bus voltage V.

For the capacitor bank in this exercise there is no active power and the reactive power is Q =
50MVAr = 0.5pu at nominal voltage, V = 1pu. (The negative sign is included because by
convention, Q is negative for a shunt that injects reactive power.) Therefore in per-unit, the
susceptance is B = Q / |V|
2
= 0.5 / (1)
2
= 0.5pu. Again by convention, susceptance B is
positive for a capacitor.

9. Assume the phasor current injections I
1
, I
2
, I
3
at each bus were to remain constant
(excluding the capacitor bank), with the values found in Question 7. Write a matrix
equation for the phasor voltages V
1
, V
2
, V
3
after insertion of the capacitor B
3
.

Use the general matrix form of the node-voltage equations YV = I from lectures, which we
can form as:


j16.667 0 j16.667
0 j12.5 j12.5
j16.667 j12.5 j28.667





(

(
(
(
V
1
V
2
V
3





(

(
(
(
=
3 j0.503
2.981 j0.608
5.981+ j1.111





(

(
(
(
.

The matrix elements are obtained as follows:
- Y
11
is the sum of admittances connecting to bus 1. The only admittance here is the
line admittance (1 / j0.06) = j16.667 from bus 1 to bus 3.
- Y
13
and Y
31
are both equal to the negative of the admittance between buses 1 and 3.
This is pure imaginary and has a positive sign because the actual admittance, as
above, is negative.
- Y
22
like Y
11
only has one contribution, which is the admittance (1 / j0.08) = j12.5
from bus 2 to bus 3.
- Y
23
and Y
32
are both equal to the negative of the admittance between buses 2 and 3.
- Y
12
and Y
21
are both zero, because there is no direct connection between buses 1 and 2.
- The last remaining element Y
33
is the total admittance connecting to bus 3. It is the
sum of three contributions: j16.667 to bus 1, j12.5 to bus 2, and jB
3
= j0.5
connected as a shunt on bus 3.

The vector on the right hand side contains the phasor currents I
1
, I
2
, I
3
in order, as found in
Question 7.

10. [Optional] If you have access to a computer running Matlab, solve the matrix
equation in Question 9 to obtain the voltage magnitudes and angles at each bus, and
compare with the load flow solution in Question 7. Are the differences what you
expect? How will each of the two generators respond to restore their target voltages?

You may be surprised to discover the solution Matlab gives to the equation above, which is:


V
1
V
2
V
3





(

(
(
(
=
0.0302 + j0.1800
0.0486 + j0.2385
0





(

(
(
(
=
0.1825Z80.48
0.2434Z78.47
0





(

(
(
(
.

The load voltage V
3
is now zero(!) and the generator voltages have fallen to 18% and 24%
respectively. Thats not all: the same solution is obtained for any (nonzero) value of B
3
!

This can happen in a real power system when it becomes severely overloaded and automatic
protection does not operate, and then it is known as voltage collapse. However, in this case
the unexpected solution comes about because the bus currents were assumed not to change.
In any real system, the generator outputs would automatically adjust to the new system
conditions in such a way that the correct active power is maintainednote this is not the
same as keeping the real part of the current constant!

To understand what happens in a real power system, one must solve the true load flow
equations stated in terms of power, not current. But this is not something one can do easily
by hand: it requires the iterative methods mentioned in lectures, implemented in computer
software such as PSS/E. In a true load flow solution, you will see that the addition of the
capacitor B
3
increases the voltages throughout the system if the generators maintain the same
power output. The generators at bus 1 and bus 2 will then automatically reduce their reactive
powers Q
1
and Q
2
in order to bring their terminal voltages back to the correct levels.

Addendum: The load flow solution worked out in Question 7 can also be obtained from the
matrix equation above, but only when rearranged slightly. Without the capacitor B
3
, the
matrix element Y
33
is just the sum of the two line admittances, and so the equations read


j16.667 0 j16.667
0 j12.5 j12.5
j16.667 j12.5 j29.167





(

(
(
(
V
1
V
2
V
3





(

(
(
(
=
3 j0.503
2.981 j0.608
5.981+ j1.111





(

(
(
(
.

However, the matrix Y in these equations is singular, and so the equations in this form cannot
be solved for the voltages V. (Matlab reports Matrix is singular to working precision and
retuns V as a vector of NaN: not a number.)

To get the solution by this route, we need to rearrange the equations as suggested in lectures,
to fix the slack bus voltage V
1
= 1pu. Take the equations above and remove row 1; then
separate column 1 out from what remains, so that the equations now read


0
j16.667



(

(
V
1
+
j12.5 j12.5
j12.5 j29.167



(

(
V
2
V
3



(

(
=
2.981 j0.608
5.981+ j1.111



(

(
.

Now move the first term (with V
1
) to the right hand side, and substitute V
1
= 1.0pu at the
same time:


j12.5 j12.5
j12.5 j29.167



(

(
V
2
V
3



(

(
=
2.981 j0.608
5.981+ j1.111



(

(

0
j16.667



(

(
1.0 ( )
or

j12.5 j12.5
j12.5 j29.167



(

(
V
2
V
3



(

(
=
2.981 j0.608
5.981 j15.556



(

(
.

The solution to this reduced set of equations is


V
2
V
3



(

(
=
1.0185+ j0.0585
0.9698 j0.1800



(

(
=
1.0201Z3.29
0.9864Z10.51



(

(
..

Leaving aside rounding errors in the fourth decimal place for voltage magnitude, and the
second decimal place for voltage angle, this is identical to the solution obtained previously.

The capacitor bank is now removed and an additional smelter potline installed, increasing
the load power from 600MW to 900MW. Assume the additional power requirement is
supplied from the generator at bus 1.

11. With 900MW of load at bus 3, calculate the amount of reactive power that needs to be
supplied or absorbed at bus 3 to maintain the same voltage magnitude as in Question
7. (Hint: use the two-bus load flow formulae from lectures.) If this is provided with a
capacitor or reactor bank, what shunt susceptance B
3
(in per-unit) is required?

In this part of the problem we know the voltage magnitude at every bus, and the active power
flows. The power from the bus 2 generator is fixed at 300MW, so the additional power must
come from the generator at bus 1, which now supplies 600MW.

Knowing the voltage magnitudes and active power flows in a lossless network, one can
determine the reactive power flows from the sine and cosine formulae.

First, use the sine formula to determine the voltage angle differences on each individual line
as before:
Bus 1 to bus 3: sin o
13
= 0.06 x 6 / (1 x 0.9864) = 0.3650, thus o
13
= 0.3736 rad = 21.41
Bus 2 to bus 3: sin o
23
= 0.08 x 3 / (1.02 x 0.9864) = 0.2385, thus o
23
= 0.2409 rad = 13.80
(same as in Question 7)

Now one can use the cosine formula to determine reactive power flows, observing that for a
lossless circuit
= XQ / |V
S
|
2
= (|V
L
| / |V
S
|) cos o (|V
L
| / |V
S
|)
2
, hence
Q = (|V
S
| |V
L
| / X) cos o |V
L
|
2
/ X.
Flow into bus 3 from bus 1:
Q = (1 x 0.9864 / 0.06) cos 0.3736 0.9864
2
/ 0.06 = 0.9105pu = 91.05MVAr
Flow into bus 3 from bus 2:
Q = (1.02 x 0.9864 / 0.08) cos 0.2409 0.9864
2
/ 0.08 = 0.0511pu = 5.11MVAr.
Thus the net reactive power absorbed at bus 3 will be 91.05 + 5.11 = 85.94MVAr, in other
words the load must supply 85.94MVAr at bus 3 to maintain the same voltage magnitude.

By the load convention, the reactive power at bus 3 in per-unit is 0.8594pu and so
corresponds to a capacitor rather than a reactor. To determine the size of capacitor required,
use the formula Q = B |V|
2
as in Question 8. One has:
B = Q / |V
3
|
2
= 0.8594 / 0.9864
2
= 0.8833pu.
(Note this would be described as a nominal 88.33MVAr capacitorwhy?)

12. Under the same conditions as in Question 11, calculate the reactive power supplied
or absorbed at each generator.

Current into bus 3 from bus 1:
|I| = sqrt(P
2
+ Q
2
) / |V| = sqrt(6
2
+ 0.9105
2
) / 0.9864 = 6.1524pu.
Reactive power supplied at bus 1 generator:
Q
1
= 0.9105 + |I|
2
X = 0.9105 + 6.1524
2
x 0.06 = 1.3606pu, or 136.1MVAr.
Current into bus 3 from bus 2:
|I| = sqrt(P
2
+ Q
2
) / |V| = sqrt(3
2
+ 0.0511
2
) / 0.9864 = 3.0418pu.
Reactive power supplied at bus 2 generator:
Q
3
= 0.0511 + |I|
2
X = 0.0511 + 3.0418
2
x 0.08 = 0.7913pu, or 79.1MVAr.
Notice that there is essentially no change in the reactive power supplied from bus 2. This is
to be expected, as the terminal voltage and active power conditions on the line from bus 2 to
bus 3 are entirely unchanged from the situation in Question 7. (Even though the calculation
was done to four decimal places there is still enough accumulated rounding error to give the
final answer as 79.1MVAr instead of 79.2MVAr, but this difference is not normally regarded
as significant in practice.)

13. Under the conditions of Question 11, calculate the voltage angle difference between
the two generators. Is this smaller or larger than the angle difference seen
originally?

The new values o
13
= 21.41 and o
23
= 13.80 were found at Question 11 above. Note again
that o
23
is unchanged from the situation in Question 7.

From these values one calculates o
2
= o
23
+ o
31
= o
23
- o
13
= 13.80 21.41 = 7.61.

Thus a phase lead of 3.28 degrees at bus 2 has now become a phase lag of 7.61 degrees.
Another way to view this is that the generator at bus 1 has advanced its phase angle relative
to bus 2, as a consequence of its greater active power output. This is a generally observed
phenomenon: the greater the active power flow in a network, the greater the phase angle
difference between the bus voltages. Some of the consequences of this for the transient
stability of the system will be explored in later lectures.


ABM, 11/08/2013