Detection of Differently Loaded Power Network Areas

Abstract

A widely accepted method of simplifying power system problems, especially for large system, is solving them for areas into which a system is divided. The paper considers separation of the power system areas that contain branches with similar active or reactive power loads. For this purpose rates are proposed that show the dependence of the branch power flow (active and reactive power flow separately) on the loads at system nodes. On the basis of the considered rates, branches are partioned into groups. The rates for all branches in the same group are similar. They significantly differ between groups. For selected groups of branches, which are characterized by values of the aforementioned rate larger than a preset value, the consistent area of the power network is found. The paper shows utilization of the method for the IEEE 14-bus test system.