Balanced systems

The theory of three-phase power systems tells us that as long as the loads on each of
the three phases are balanced, the system is fully represented by (and thus calculations
can be performed for) any single phase (so called per phase analysis).[7][8] In power
engineering, this assumption is often useful, and to consider all three phases requires
more effort with very little potential advantage.[9] An important and frequent exception is
an asymmetric fault on only one or two phases of the system.

A one-line diagram is usually used along with other notational simplifications, such as
the per-unit system.

A secondary advantage to using a one-line diagram is that the simpler diagram leaves
more space for non-electrical, such as economic, information to be included.

Buses
The lines in the single-line diagram connect nodes – points in the system that are
"electrically distinct" (i.e., there is nonzero electrical impedance between them). For
sufficiently large systems, these points represent physical busbars, so the diagram
nodes are frequently called buses. A bus corresponds to a location where the power is
either injected into the system (e.g., a generator) or consumed (an electrical load).[3] A
steady-state of each bus can be characterized by its voltage phasor; the system state is
defined by a vector[4] of voltage phasors for all the buses.[5] In a physical system the state
is calculated through power system state estimation, since the end of the 20th century
this process involves direct simultaneous measurements (synchrophasor) using
the phasor measurement units.[6]