Operation and control of electrical distribution system with extra voltage to minimize the losses

Abstract

This paper presents a new methodology for enhancing the distribution system performance by minimizing both technical and non technical losses. Most of the utility companies in developing countries are victims of major revenue losses due to technical and non technical energy losses. The non technical losses are like electricity theft, unauthorized connections, irregular billing and the technical losses are I <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> R power losses. These losses affect the quality of supply in terms of voltage magnitude, and more tariffs imposed on genuine customers. To improve the efficiency of supply, one of the recommendations is “Boosting the distributor phase voltage, say from 100% to 152% that is, 230V to 350V and stepping down to normal operating voltage (230V) at the consumer premises by using a special voltage regulator device”. The methodology can reduce the technical and non technical losses in the electrical distribution system to appreciable level. Hence the voltage profile can be improved by reducing the I <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> R losses. As the normal operating voltage of any home appliances is 230V, in the proposed methodology the electrical distributor phase voltage is maintained up to 350V. So if any domestic consumer tries to get unauthorized/illegal power tapping connection, the home appliances are get damaged due to over voltage. Hence, with this approach there is no chance for power theft or unauthorized connections in the distribution system. When the electrical distributor operates with more voltage than the normal operating voltage, the I <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> R losses in the distributor will be reduced considerably. For the proposed work both software and hardware methods are developed.