  For the nonlinear power flow problem specified with standard PQ, PV, and
slack bus equality constraints, we present a sufficient condition under which
the specified set of nonlinear algebraic equations has no solution. This
sufficient condition is constructed in a framework of an associated feasible,
convex optimization problem. The objective employed in this optimization
problem yields a measure of distance (in a parameter set) to the power flow
solution boundary. In practical terms, this distance is closely related to
quantities that previous authors have proposed as voltage stability margins. A
typical margin is expressed in terms of the parameters of system loading
(injected powers); here we additionally introduce a new margin in terms of the
parameters of regulated bus voltages.
