Updated and validated power flow model of the main continental European transmission network

The advent of liberalisation of the electricity market in Europe has seen the growth of cross-border trading of energy. Zhou & Bialek published in 2005 a paper outlining an approximate model which simulated the real network and could be used to analyse the effects of cross-border trades in a test environment. This paper presents an updated and validated model that includes the Balkan region that was not included in the original model. In addition the model was fully updated to replicate 2009 power flows. The final results are positive and show an overall correlation of over 95% when compared with the published cross-border flows from 2009. Power Transfer Distribution Factors were also calculated to show the problems of loop flows when considering large exporters or importers of energy. The database created in this project has been made available for public use by making it accessible from PowerWorld website http://www.powerworld.com/bialek. It is hoped that it will be used widely to analyse transmission constraints and functioning of the energy market in Europe.