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A sequential conic programming algorithm for calculating voltage stability margins

Long Fu*, Gexiang Zhang, Jianping Dong, Gang Wang, Zhao Yang Dong, Yaran Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

Abstract

With the increasing power demand and major blackout events, power systems are operating under more stressed conditions, approaching their stability limits. Voltage stability margin (VSM) characterizes a measure of distance to the power flow insolvability/infeasibility boundary that needs to be precisely calculated and effectively monitored, yet it can be challenging considering varying operational constraints and loading scenarios. Focusing on static power flow equations in this paper, a novel sequential conic programming (SCP) algorithm is proposed based on linear approximations of non-convex functions for an optimization-based VSM calculation. Compared with existing methods, the performance of proposed SCP is more robust against different operating scenarios where desired features of being initialization-free, exact, scalable, and applicable can be appropriately achieved. Multiple test cases validate the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd.
Original languageEnglish
Article number102108
Number of pages8
JournalSustainable Energy, Grids and Networks
Volume45
Online published23 Dec 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2026

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Start-up Fund of Chengdu University of Information Technology under Grant KYTZ202503, and partially by a Start-up Grant at City University of Hong Kong and the Global STEM Professorship, Hong Kong, China.

Research Keywords

  • Linear approximation
  • Maximum loading factor
  • Optimal power flow
  • Static voltage stability
  • Successive convex optimization

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