A comparative study on common power flow techniques in the power distribution system of the Tehran metro

Overall, a power-flow study is a steady-state assessment whose goal is to specify the currents, voltages, and real and reactive flows in a power system under a given load conditions. This paper presents a comparison of common power flow techniques in the Tehran metro power distribution system at the presence of non-linear loads. Moreover, a modelling, simulation and analysis of this power distribution system is implemented with the Electrical Transient Analyser Program (ETAP) software. In this assessment, common power flow techniques including the Newton-Raphson (NR), Fast Decoupled (FD), and Accelerated Gauss-Seidel (AGS) techniques are provided and compared. The obtained results (total generation, loading, demand, system losses, and critical report of the power flow) are analysed. In this paper, we focus on the detailed assessment and monitoring by using the most modern ETAP software, which performs numerical calculations of a large integrated power system with fabulous speed and also generates output reports. The capability and effectiveness of the power flow analysis are demonstrated according to the simulation results obtained with ETAP by applying it to the power distribution system of the Tehran metro. In developing countries such as Iran, off-line modelling and simulation of power grids by a powerful software are beneficial and helpful for the best usage of the electrical energy