2016 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CICED 2016) Xi’an, 10-13 Aug, 2016
A New Method of Congestion Management Based on
Power Flow Tracing
Hetong Wang ,Hai Bao
North China Electric Power University,
Beijing,102206,China
Abstract—Nowadays,with the competition and
optimization of resource’s allocation being
introduced into the power market, the problem of
transmission congestion also emerges. In power
systems,lines and transformers transmiss energy
which is a comprehensive reflection of the active
power and reactive power, thus the causes of
congestion should include the active and reactive
power.The results of sensitivity analysis method
may be inaccurate because only the effect of active
power is considered. A new congestion management
method which considers the linkage characteristic
of active and reactive power is proposed in this
paper.When there exists congestion, the analytical
relationships between the line power and generator
outputs can be obtained by power flow
tracing.Then the power vectorgraph could be made
and congesiton can be eliminated effectively by
adjusting relevant power components in four
quadrants.The correctness and effectiveness of the
new method can be verified by a numerical
example.
Index Terms—transmission congestion management,
energy, sensitivity, power flow tracing, power
component.
I. INTRODUCTION
From the 80s last century, many countries in the world
have carried out reform of electric power industry. With the
further development of the reform,a liberal power market
requests the freedom of competition,but the limited
transmission capacity limits this freedom greatly.
Due to the heat capacity of the transmission line and the
stability of the system,transmission congestion will occur
when the power reaches or exceeds the limit of the
transmission capacity[1]. As a result,it may result in
preventing new contracts, infeasibility in existing and new
contracts, price monopoly in some regions of power systems
and damage to system components[2]. Therefore, an effective
transmission congestion management is very important to
the safe operation of the power system and the long-term
stable development of the power market.
There are two kinds of congestion management in the
pool market.One is based on the optimal power flow (OPF)
program which considers both the economic dispatch and the
stability,but the heavy computation limits its application in
real-time congestion management. The other is security
correction in generation scheduling based on market clearing
price,that is sensitivity analysis method.When there exists
transmission congestion in the system, according to the
sensitivity method,the Independent System Operator (ISO)
not only can quickly judge the generator or load which can
participate in the adjustment but also can determine the
adjustment capacity.Thus,the method can be used for
real-time congestion management.
In essence,the sensitivity method is based on power
flow equations’s Taylor series expansion.It is an approximate
quantitative method because the higher order infinitesimal is
ignored. In addition,it ignores the relationships among
control variables and regards each control variable is
independent of one another.If the influence of active power
is only considered,whereas other electrical parameters’
influence is neglected in congestion management,the results
may be not accurate.
Each line power can be obtained by power flow tracing
based on power component theory.Then the distribution of
the generator power can also be determined.Thus the power
component vectors of each line can be represented visually
and be adjusted in four quadrants.A new method for
real-time congestion management is proposed in this paper.
II. CONGESTION MANAGEMENT MODEL
A.Power flow tracing
The analytical relationships between the line power and
each generator output can be obtained by power flow
tracing.
q q
¦ Sijinkks ¦G
Sijin ij  kks Skks (k  G ) ˄ϭ˅
k 1 k 1
The ratio of each power component and each generator
output is shown as following.
Sijiinj kks
Gij ksk , k  G         ˄Ϯ˅
Sksk
Where
Sijin is the power of line i-j;
Paper No. CP1007 Page 14
 2016 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CICED 2016) Xi’an, 10-13 Aug, 2016

region where power vector does not exceed the transmission

Siijinkks is the power component of line i-j; capacity limit as welle as satisfies the voltage constrains.Once
the actual powerwer Sij is not
no in the shadow area, some power
components Sij kks (k  G) should be adjusted repeatedly
Giij kks is the ratio of each power component and each
until it enters.
The proposed method requires adjusting power
generator output;
components in four quadrants. The generator outputs can be
divided into two categories:those which cause congestion
S kks is the output of generator k.
(the power components in the first and fourth quadrant)and
Because S can be expressed as S=P+jQ,(3) and (4) those which relieve congestion(the power components in the
can be deduced as follows. second and third quadrant). The length of a power
component is longer,the influence to the line is
q greater.Therefore, for the power components in the first and
Pijin  jQijin ¦ (P
k 1
ij  ks  jQij ks )( Pks  jQks ) ˄ϯ˅ fourth quadrant, the generator output which has the longest
length should be cut;whereas for the power components in
the second and third quadrant, the generator output which
wPijin wQijin wPijin wQijin has the longest length should be increased. If there is no
Pij ks ,  Qij ks ˄ϰ˅ power
ower component
comp in the second and third quadrant,
wPks wQks wQks wPks
Gijmmax
kks 0 ,which means only the load and generator
output could be reduced.
It satisfies the Cauchy-Riemann conditions,so the
When there exists congestion, the process of
equation is analytic. transmission congestion management can be partitioned as
follows.Step 1:Make the power component vectorgraph of
B. Model the congested line according to the results of power flow
tracing;Step 2:Judge that every generator output is to cause
In power systems, the transmission capacity of each
or relieve congestion;Step 3:Choose the generator or load
line has a limit value,expressed as apparent power which can participate in the adjustment and caculate
corresponding
orrespo transmission gain Giijmmax
lls and
S P 2  Q 2 . Qmin and Qmax can be obtained by  max
Giji mksk ;Step 4: The adjustment amount should be
calculated by (5);Step 5:Adjust the generator output or
voltage constraints,thus corresponding Pmax and Pmin load.The process is terminated if the congestion is
can also be determined. eliminated,otherwise it will be repeated until the congestion
is eliminated
ated completely. S S
ijj ij
i
Q 'Sij ,l 'Siij ,k  max  max
     ˄ϱ˅
G ij mls
l G ij mkks
Where 'Siij ,l and 'Siij ,k are the adjustment capacity.
Smin=Pmin+jQmax III. EXAMPLE ANALYSIS
S=P+jQ
Smax=Pmax+jQmin The numerical example shown in Fig. 2 will be used to
S1 verify the effectiveness and availability of the method
S2 proposed.Sensitivity method as well as the new method will
O P be adopted to eliminate congestion and be compared.


Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of transmission capacity
A circle whose radius is determined by transmission
capacity limit S  is shown in Fig. 1,and coordinate origin
O is the circle center.The two vectors Smin
i Pmini  jQmax
and Smax Pmax  jQmin can also be expressed in the
figure.The shadow area in circle shown in Fig. 1 is the

Paper No. CP1007 Page 24

 2016 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CICED 2016) Xi’an, 10-13 Aug, 2016

P59  P59
671&

M
'PG 2 'PL 9


M M

M
 S59m2 s  S59m9 L
M
  ;ϳͿ 
0.7638  0.7
M
M

0.0706

M M
 
0.4598  (0.4434)
M
M
M
M
M If the effect of active power is only considered, the
 
M reduction amount should be 0.0706.The power of line 5-9 is
M
0.7001 – j0.0100 after reducing the generator output G2 and
M M load L9. Although congestion situation is alleviated, the
M
M obstruction phenomenon is not eliminated completely,so it
 needs to be adjusted once more.
M B.The method proposed in this paper
Table Ċ is the allocation of generator outputs for line
5-9 by using power flow tracing method. Power component
 vectorgraph of Line 5-9 can be made according to these data
 (as shown in Fig. 3) and generators which need adjusting can
M
be determined rapidly.In addition, the adjustment amount
could be caculated by (5).
Fig. 2 IEEE 9 bus system TableĊ.The Allocation of Injection Power for Line 5-9(p.u.)
Fig. 2 is the network connection diagram,and the
electrical parameters are shown in [4]. Table ĉ is the
transmission capacity of IEEE 9 bus system and the results
of power flow trcaing. It’s obvious that line 5-9 is blocked.
Tableĉ.Injection Power of Every Line (p.u.)

Under the premise of not reducing load,the output of

G3 should be increased because S55933s is in the second
quadrant(as shown in Fig.3).Because S55911s and S559 22s
 are respectively in the first and fourth quadrant and the
A.Sensitivity analysis method
According to (6) of DC power flow model,it is easy to length of S55922s is longer(as shown in Fig.3),the output of
konw that Generator G1, G2, G3 corresponding sensitivity is G2 should be decreased.The adjustment amount can be
respectively 0.0978ˈ0.4598ˈ-0.2999˗load L7, L8, L9
corresponding sensitivity is respectively 0.2255ˈ-0.0423ˈ obtained through caculation by (2),(5).
-0.4434. Output of generator G2 and load L9 should be cut
to alleviate congestion. S559in92 s
G5592 s 0.5
0.5247 - j0.0630 
dTi dT j SG 2

dPij dPk dPk xik  x jk
    ˄ϲ˅
dPk xij xij S559in93s
G5593s -0.2268 - j0.0271 
-0.2
SG 3
Where Ti and Tj is the voltage phase angle of line

i-j; xik and x jk is the corresponding impedance value in S5599  S59

'S59,2
59 2 'S559 3
59,3
5
0.0852 - j0.0066  
0.08
the impedance matrix of power flow; xij is the impedance
G59 max
m2 s  G  max
5 m3 s
59

value of line i-j.

Paper No. CP1007 Page 34

 2016 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CICED 2016) Xi’an, 10-13 Aug, 2016

IV. CONCLUSION

When there exists congestion in power systems, the

sensitivity method only considers the effect of the active
power.Whereas the method proposed in this paper considers
S59-1s the linkage characteristic of active and reactive power.Based
actual power S59 on the results of power flow tracing ,the analytical
S59-3s
O
S59-2s relationships between line power and generator outputs can
be obtained. By adjusting the power components in
four quadrants,congestion can be eliminated effectively
under the premise of not reducing load.


Fig. 3 Initial vectorgraph of Line 5-9
actual power S59
O congestion relief using privately owned large-scale energy
 Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering & Computer
Fig. 4 Vectorgraph of Line 5-9 after adjustment
The power of line 5-9 is 0.6995 + j0.0038 after
adjustment,as shown in Fig. 4 .The congestion can be
eliminated completely under the premise of not reducing
load.
The comparasion of the results by using two methods is
shown in Table ċ.
Table ċ. Comparasion of the results by using two
methods
REFERENCES
[1]Harry Singh, Shangyou Hao,Alex Papalexopoulos.Transmission
congestion management in competitive electricity markets.IEEE
Trans on Power System,1998,13(2).
[2] Ashwani Kumar,S.C. Srivastava,S.N. .Singh.A zonal
congestion management approach using ac transmission
congestion distribution factors[J]. Electrical power systems
research, 2004, 72:85-93.
[3] Khani, Hadi,Dadash Zadeh, Mohammad R. Transmission
storage systems in a competitive electricity market. IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, April 3, 2015
[4] Sasiraja, R.M.,Kumar, V.S., Ponmani, S. An elegant
emergence of optimal siting and sizing of multiple
distributed generators used for transmission congestion relief.
Sciences, v 23, n 6, p 1882-95, 2015
[5] Hyman L S . Transmission , congestion , pricing and
incentives .IEEE Power Engineering Review , 1999( 8) : 4̚
10Narayan
[6]S R . Transmission loss and congestion cost
allocation—— an approach based on responsibility. IEEE
Trans on Power Systems, 2000, 15( 4) : 1401̚1409
[7]Galiana F D, Conejo J A, Kockar I. Incremental
transmission loss allocation under pool dispatch. IEEE T
rans on Power Systems, 2002, 17( 1) : 26̚33
[8] Zhong, Haiwang, Xia, Qing,Ding, Maosheng, Ning, Bo.
Transmission congestion management method based on
coupon incentive mechanism[J]. Power System Technology.
2013: 1291-1297
[9]Ming Gan,Kaigui Xie ,Chunyan Li . Transmission
congestion evaluation of power systems using
non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation technique
International Journal of Energy Sector Management, v 6, n
1, p 50-64, April 2012
[10] Gurgur, Cigdem Z. Design of power purchase under
transmission congestion. International Journal of Energy
Sector Management, v 6, n 1, p 50-64, April 2012

Hetong Wang received the B.E. Degree from North China

Electric Power University,China,2014.
She is presently pursuing the Masters degree at North China
Electric Power University and is investigating power system
analysis and control.
Email:wanghetong14@163.com

Hai Bao (Beijing,1968 ).He is presently the Professor of North

China Electric Power University.His main research direction is
power system analysis and control.

Paper No. CP1007 Page 44