SPICE-compliant load flow analysis of power distribution networks with behavioral loads

This paper discusses an alternative and Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE)-compatible solution for the steady-state simulation of power distribution networks. It introduces two alternative auxiliary subcircuits that allow to efficiently simulate the network in any simulation tool for circuit analysis. This feature introduces remarkable benefits in terms of simplicity and generality, since it avoids the need for any iterative method, thus bridging the gap between classical industry-standard and general-purpose simulators based on circuital equations, such as SPICE, and dedicated tools for the load flow analysis of power systems. The approach is first demonstrated based on a simple illustrative example, for which the performance in terms of accuracy and efficiency is discussed and then applied to the standard IEEE 33-node power distribution benchmark. Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE)-compatible alternative solution for the steady-state (i.e., load flow) analysis of a power distribution network (PDN) bridges the gap between energy tools and circuit solvers. Circuital interpretation via RL$$ RL $$ type t$$ t $$-domain equivalents accounts for the steady-state behavior of the PDN and loads.image