Continuation Power Flow Analysis

Abstract

This chapter describes a variety of techniques used for determining the point of collapse of power flow equations with particular emphasis on continuation power flow analysis. Section 5.1 introduces the maximum loading condition problem using a didactic 2-bus system. Section 5.2 defines the general model for the maximum loading condition. Section 5.3 describes direct methods for computing saddle-node bifurcation and limit-induced bifurcation points while Section 5.4 describes the continuation power flow technique. Section 5.4 also explains the conceptual differences, advantages and drawbacks of continuation (or homotopy) methods with respect to direct ones. Subsections 5.4.4 and 5.4.5 discuss the analogy between the continuous Newton’s method and the homotopy approach and the N-1 contingency analysis, respectively. Finally, Section 5.5 summarizes the main concepts of the continuation power flow analysis.