TRACING THE FLOW OF ELECTRICITY

Continuing trend towards deregulation and unbundling of transmission s ervices has resulted in the need to assess what the impact of a partic ular generator or load is on the power system. A new method of tracing the flow of electricity in meshed electrical networks is proposed whi ch may be applied to both real and reactive power flows. The method al lows assessment of how much of the real and reactive power output from a particular station goes to a particular load. It also allows the as sessment of contributions of individual generators (or loads) to indiv idual line flows. A loss-apportioning algorithm has also been introduc ed which allows the break down of the total transmission loss into com ponents to be allocated to individual loads or generators. The method can be useful in providing additional insight into power system operat ion and can be used to modify existing tariffs of charging for transmi ssion loss, reactive power and transmission services.