DC Power Flow Analysis as a Tool for the Study and Design of Multi-Terminal Electrical Grids

Abstract

The development and deployment of high voltage power electronic apparatus for the support and functioning of optimal operation and management of electrical grid networks is dependent on the progress of high power capacity semiconductor technology that has seen a rising trend over the past few years. These grids have certain different characteristics such as full or partial deregulation of their networks. These characteristics have advanced their application in many HVDC transmission networks as well as their use in the flexible AC transmission network technology’s i.e., the FACTS. DC power flow finds its use for the study of almost all analysis of power systems for macroeconomic purposes. DC power flow analysis can be done by simplifying the full power flow of AC networks and taking only the active power losses into consideration. Voltage control and support as well as the management of reactive power do not come under this domain. These simplifications cannot be considered realistic even though they simplify the power flow process to a large extent. The various assumptions of DC power flow have been analyzed in this paper and efforts have been made to quantify them. This paper examines the DC power flow as a power system analysis tool and its utility for multiterminal HVDC connected with AC grids. The method is increasingly used for techno-economic studies by power delivery companies in electricity markets. In this paper the assumptions of DC power flow are reviewed and its application for the multinode DC grids is reviewed. The proposed methodology is then applied to analyze the arbitrary draft models of an interconnected Supergrid in the Indian subcontinent.

Keywords: DC power flow, HVDC, electricity management, load flow analysis