The gist of this presentation is to help power engineers avoid having their power flows converge to undesired alternative solutions. As has been known for about 50 years, the power flow equations have multiple solutions. Usually, but not always, the solution with the highest per unit voltage magnitudes represents the solution at which the power system would actually operate and hence is usually the desired solution. This presentation first shows the ease in which the Newton-Raphson power flow can converge to undesired alterative solutions. The presentation then discusses how these alternative solutions can be identified, and then presents computationally efficient techniques that can be used to improve power flow convergence to the desired solution. Included in the presentation is recent research in the topic and insights that can be gained from visualizing the power flow solution region of attractions. Results are demonstrated on power systems ranging in size from two to tens of thousands of buses.
Date and Time: Sep 03, 2025 3:00pm – 4:00pm CDT
Location: zoom
The presentation slides are posted here
Speaker
Thomas J. Overbye is a professor and holder of the O’Donnell Foundation Chair III in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU), and the Director of TEES Smart Grid Center. Prior to joining TAMU in 2017 he was a Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before starting his academic career, he was employed with Madison Gas and Electric Company.
He is the original developer of PowerWorld Simulator, a co-founder of PowerWorld Corporation, and an author of a widely used Power System Analysis and Design book. He was also the recipient a University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award, the IEEE Power and Energy Society Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Overbye has extensive experience in many aspects of electric power systems, including participating in or leading numerous large-scale electric grid studies.
Presentation slides of other talks of Dr. Overbye and more about his research are posted here.