Artificial neural network approach - an application to radial loadflow algorithm

A special load flow method is required to solve power balance equations of Radial Distribution Systems (RDS) owing to high R/X ratio of their lines. This paper reports an application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to determine bus voltages of a radial distribution system for any given load without executing the load flow algorithm. A multi-layer feed forward ANN with error back propagation learning algorithm is proposed for calculation of bus voltages and its angles. Extensive testing of the proposed ANN based approach indicates its viability for radial system load flow assessment. Test results are presented for a sample 33-bus system.