An improved hybrid load flow calculation algorithm for weakly-meshed power distribution system

Abstract An improved hybrid load flow calculation algorithm and its simplified and approximate version have been presented in this paper for weakly meshed distribution systems with PV nodes. The link branches, slack buses and PV nodes can be dealt with together with a combined matrix. The calculation accuracy of the proposed methods equals to that of Newton–Raphson method and loop theory based method. The method has relatively faster calculation speed because of the real-number matrix operations. Furthermore, because the coefficient matrices are constants for meshed networks, the proposed simplified and approximate version has less calculation time than other methods. The numerical tests proved that the new method provides a simpler, more robust, and potentially faster solution to handle complex meshed distribution networks with a high amount of dispersed generators.