Voltage Collapse Proximity Assessment for Radial Distribution Networks

The paper deals with voltage stability assessment in radial distribution networks. The voltage collapse proximity index already utilized in literature for power transmission systems is assumed. Based on the optimal impedance solution of a two-bus equivalent system, this index indicates how far the load nodes of the actual network are from their voltage collapse points, allowing the weak node and its maximum load power beyond which voltage collapse takes place to be identified. The proposed method differs from the other methods on the determination of the parameters which define the two-bus equivalent of the network, allowing to better identify the maximum loading point beyond which the voltage collapse takes place in the network. Simulation results show that the proposed method is significantly more accurate than other existing methods on evaluating the critical power at a particular node (i.e. the weak node of the network) starting from any operating point, with smaller errors between actual and predicted values.