The Master-Slave Splitting Extended to Power Flow Problems on Integrated Networks with an Unbalanced Distribution Network

An integrated network consists of a transmission network and at least one distribution network which are connected to each other via a substation. One way to do power flow simulations on these integrated networks is the Master-Slave splitting method. This method splits the integrated network and iterates between the separate transmission (the master) and distribution (the slave) network. In this paper, we extend the method to hybrid networks: a network consisting of a balanced transmission and an unbalanced distribution network. An extra handling is necessary to get the Master-slave splitting to work on hybrid networks. We explain two approaches to use the Master-Slave splitting on a hybrid network and compare these approaches on accuracy, computational time, and convergence, by doing test-simulations. The Master-Slave splitting is interesting when distribution and transmission systems have different characteristics, are in geographically distinct locations, or when system operators are not able or allowed to share data of their network with each other. The extension to hybrid networks makes this method generally applicable and an interesting choice to do power flow simulations on integrated networks.