Characterization of the Nigerian 46 Bus 330kv Transmission Grid Power Network using Continuation Power Flow Technique

The Continuation Power Flow (CPF) has proved to be a viable tool for the determination of power system stability and the identification of weakest buses in a multi-bus network. In this paper, load flow based on Newton Raphson's method is performed on the Nigeria 46 bus 330kV grid power transmission network to determine the value of the network variables (voltage magnitude and angle, real and reactive power flow and losses) during normal operating conditions. CPF is then performed to determine the weakest buses. The load flow and the CPF studies are all implemented in PSAT/Matlab. The power transmission network is also modeled in PSAT/Matlab. By ranking the voltage magnitudes of the determined weakest buses in ascending order, the optimum locations for placement of compensating devices on the network are determined. The buses with voltages below 0.95 after CPF are categorized as weak buses while the bus with the lowest voltage becomes the weakest bus. Result showed that the optimum locations for series compensation are at Yola-Gombe line and Adamawa-Mayobelewa line. The Yola bus with the lowest voltage magnitude of 0.4675pu is the weakest bus.