Using OpenDSS to Reallocate Voltage Regulators and Capacitor Banks in Real Distribution Feeders

Abstract

This paper presents a simplified method to reallocate existing voltage regulators and capacitor banks in distribution feeders. The method is based in applying an exhaustive search to obtain the new equipment position that minimizes an objective function, which is based in the cost of energy loss and voltage violations. To obtain the energy loss and the voltage violations, it is performed daily load flow analysis in OpenDSS. The control of simulations and the objective function computation is performed by Matlab, that communicate to OpenDSS by the COM interface. To reduce the number of simulations, one equipment is reallocated at a time and only feasible positions are considered. The method was tested in a real distribution feeder, resulting in a cost reduction of 8,8% with a reallocation cost payback of seven months. Being a simple method, it is easy to implement by distribution companies with feeders modeled in OpenDSS platform.