The back/forward sweep-based power flow method for distribution networks with DGs

Power system deregulation and the shortage of transmission capacities have led to increased interests in distributed generation sources (DGs). The high penetration of distributed generation (DG) units at the distribution level have a profoundly influence on grid security, operation, planning, etc. Therefore, based on the back/forward sweep methods, this paper presents a power flow method for radial distribution networks with DGs. To improve robustness and enhance convergence rate of the solution method, we developed an efficient branch and nodal numbering scheme and employed variable step-size factor and next-linked branch matrix. Meanwhile, a computer program implementing the solution scheme was developed and successfully applied to several practical and complex radial distribution networks. The results show that the proposed method has excellent convergence rate and is simple, flexible, reliable and very robust while maintaining necessary accuracy. It is available to calculate power flow for radial distribution network with multi-source and multi-type DGs. The solutions are given and compared with the results acquired with existing software to verify the proposed approaches.