A three-phase power flow solution method for unbalanced distribution networks

This paper introduces a methodology for solving power flow problem of both balanced and unbalanced radial distribution networks. Two matrices -the line Primitive Impedance Matrix (PIM) and the Branch-Current Matrix (BCM) are developed to obtain the power flow solution for the given network. The special topological characteristics of the distribution network have been taken into consideration while developing these matrices. Due to its distinct features, the optimal node ordering which is necessary in the forward backward substitution method, LU-decomposition, or Y-bus formulation and factorization are no longer needed in the proposed approach. The proposed method has been tested on a balanced 33-bus network and an 8-bus unbalanced network. The results of the proposed method were found similar when compared with some other methods presented in the literature, while requiring less computational time.