A parallel distributed computing framework for Newton-Raphson load flow analysis of large interconnected power systems

Abstract

This paper proposes a simple parallel and distributed computing framework for the conventional Newton-Raphson load flow (NRLF) solution of large interconnected power systems. The proposed approach is based on message-passing distributed-memory architecture with separate workstations, and involves the piecewise analysis of power systems utilizing the network tearing procedure. The NRLF solution method, applied to each torn system at the selected buses, employs the matrix inversion lemma consisting of the factorization, forward elimination and back substitution procedures. The computational requirements of the state-of-the art parallel algorithm to obtain the correction vector involved in the back substitution procedure is reduced with the proposed approach in which the back substitution is carried out in parallel taking into account the split buses, rather than the order in which the forward elimination is performed. The investigations are carried out on the IEEE 118 bus standard test system in a Redhat Linux based 100 Mbps Ethernet LAN environment. The investigations reveal that the proposed method is significantly faster than the conventional NRLF and also the NRLF based on the state-of-the-art parallel algorithm, and thus finds potential applications for the real-time load flow solution of both regulated and deregulated power systems distributed over large geographical areas.