Abstract
This paper presents a method that is used to determine the coherent bus groups of a system with similar reactive reserve basins. The differences between this proposed method and another widely accepted voltage stability analysis method are highlighted in this paper and results obtained from the proposed method are discussed. This method is highlighted as being more efficient and requiring comparatively less VQ curve computations. Definitions are proposed for the categorization of buses by the cause of their loading limitation. Results obtained from the test systems support the method's validity and the validity of the bus categories proposed. By determining the reactive reserve margin, it is possible to determine which generators will have an impact on the maximum permissible loading of a bus and which will not. This information is particularly useful for performing voltage stability analysis.
