Analysis of parallel algorithms for power flow

Load flow is one of the most frequently called routines in the planning, operation, as well as in the security control of a power system. For the traditional offline single-case solution, algorithmic speed has ceased to be relevant. But such speed is vital for applications in security assessment and real-time applications of system control. The authors present the parallelization of the load flow calculation using a fast decoupled method. The major challenge to this is the parallelization of linearized sets of equations which is the most time-consuming part of the computation. Parallel algorithms have been developed employing different solution techniques and have been run on the MULTIMICRO which is a parallel machine developed in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Results obtained for a 198 bus system are presented