Multi-threaded power flow of large-scale active multiphase distribution networks

Backward-Forward Sweep is one of the most used procedures for the power flow calculation of large-scale active multiphase distribution networks. This paper introduces the decoupled network model which is suitable for the multi-threaded implementation of the Backward-Forward Sweep procedure. The main objectives of this paper are: (i) to introduce the decoupled new models of traditional and Electronically-coupled Distributed Energy Resources, (ii) to introduce the decoupled models of single-, two- and three-phase line sections, (iii) to give the detailed Unified Modeling Language diagrams of the software model and procedures, (iv) to give a detailed model and a procedure for the single-threaded power flow calculation, and (v) to give a detailed model and a procedure for the multi-threaded power flow calculation of the large-scale active multiphase distribution networks. The results show the advantage of the proposed decoupled single-threaded approach over the traditional coupled-based one – the speedup is up to 160%. Moreover, the speedup of the decoupled multi-threaded calculation of the power flow compared to the single-threaded one goes up to the 200%. This means that the decoupled multi-threaded implementation is up to 300% faster than the coupled one. These results prove that the Backward-Forward Sweep is particularly usable for the multi-threaded implementation.