Improved continuation load flow to enhance maximum loadability estimation

The continuation power flow method is widely used to estimate the maximum loadability of the power system as well as to study the power system voltage stability. This method performance including the convergence level and the computation time and burden is noticeably dependent on the step size control. Thus, an optimum step size control should be chosen for each specific application. To enhance the method, an iterative predictor stage based on Tellegen´s theorem and adjoint networks is added to the algorithm of the continuation power flow method. Simulation studies on the IEEE 30-bus system reveals the proposed approach leads to more robust and accurate results as compared with the conventional continuation power flow method.