In Power Flow Analysis, buses are classified into three main types.
They are
- The Generator Bus
- The Load Bus and the
- Slack, Swing or Reference bus
As the name suggests, the generator bus is the bus producing power. For the generator bus, the values of P, the active power and the voltage, V are given. The reactive power, Q and the load angle, delta should be found.
The Load Bus
The load bus consumes active and reactive power. For this bus, the active power, P and the reactive power, Q are given. The voltage and the phase angle should be calculated.
The Swing Bus
The swing bus is the bus which has been made to take the additional active and reactive power which are used to supply the transmission losses. Therefore, the active and reactive powers are unknown for this bus. Only the voltage,V and the load angle, delta are given.
| Bus Type | Quantities Specified | Quantities to be found |
| Generator Bus | P,V | Q, load angle |
| Load Bus | P,Q | V, load angle |
| Swing Bus | V, load angle | P,Q |