In this work a robust load flow method based on the Synthetic Dynamics Power Flow (SDPF) and on the Load Flow with Step Size Optimization (LFSSO) is presented. The original approach of SDPF uses variable step size implicit integration to solve the resulting differential-algebraic equations that represents the load flow problem. The proposed method Synthetic Dynamics Power Flow with Optimal Multiplier (SDPF-OM), uses the scalar multiplier from LFSSO to replace the original step length control in order to improve SDPF's performance. Finally, a critical comparison of the proposed approaches based on the number of iterations and the method's ability to identify unsolvable conditions were carried out using some IEEE test as well as realistic systems. © 2013 IEEE.