Rural Feeder Research Articles

The RURAL ROAD AND MARKETING OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE: A CASE STUDY OF KAJOLA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OYO STATE, NIGERIA

The transport system is fundamental to economic and social development of rural communities. The study examined the impact of road transportation system on the marketing of agricultural produce in Kajola local government area of Oyo state. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and sixty (166) rural farmers for the study. Primary data were collected with the use of a pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that 72.7% of the respondents were male, 69.5% were married with a mean age of 40.83years. Also, 91.4%, 89.8%, 87.5%, 79.7% and 76.6%, of the respondents produced maize, tomatoes, pepper, yam and cassava respectively while 21.9% produced cucumber. Furthermore, 60.2% of the farmers move their produce from the farm to the market through feeder roads using motorcycles due to the bad state of the roads. Respondents revealed that bad road networks bring about reduced quantity of farm produce leading to higher price. The result of the correlation analysis revealed that road transportation mode is significantly (p<0.05) related (r = 0.317) to the marketing of agricultural produce. The study recommends the renovation of existing roads and construction of more rural feeder roads to link farmlands to the markets.

Location and Sizing of Micro-Grids to Improve Continuity of Supply in Radial Distribution Networks

The steady decline in the prices of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as distributed renewable generation and storage systems, together with more sophisticated monitoring and control strategies allow power distribution companies to enhance the performance of the distribution network, for instance improving voltage control, congestion management, or reliability. The latter will be the subject of this paper. This paper addresses the improvement of continuity of supply in radial distribution grids in rural areas, where traditional reinforcements cannot be carried out because they are located in secluded areas or in naturally protected zones, where the permits to build new lines are difficult to obtain. When a contingency occurs in such a feeder, protection systems isolate it, and all downstream users suffer an interruption until the service is restored. This paper proposes a novel methodology to determine the optimal location and size of micro-grid systems (MGs) used to reduce non-served energy, considering reliability and investment costs. The proposed model additionally determines the most suitable combination of DER technologies. The resulting set of MGs would be used to supply consumers located in the isolated area while the upstream fault is being repaired. The proposed methodology is validated through its application to a case study of an actual rural feeder which suffers from reliability issues due to the difficulties in obtaining the necessary permissions to undertake conventional grid reinforcements.

Impacts of Placement of Wind Turbine Generators on IEEE 13 Node Radial Test Feeder In-Line Transformer Fuse-Fuse Protection Coordination

The ever increasing global demand on the electrical energy has lead to the integration of Distributed Generators (DGs) onto the distribution power systems networks to supplement on the deficiencies on the electrical energy generation capacities. The high penetration levels of DGs on the electrical distribution networks experienced over the past decade calls for the grid operators to periodically and critically asses the impacts brought by the DGs on the distribution network operations. The assessment on the impacts brought by the DGs on the distribution network operations is done by simulating the dynamic response of the network to major disturbances occurring on the network like the faults once the DGs have been connected into it. Connection of Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) into a conventional electrical energy distribution network has great impacts on the short circuit current levels experienced during a fault and also on the protective devices used in protecting the distribution network equipment namely; the transformers, the overhead distribution lines, the underground cables and the line compensators and the shunt capacitors commonly used/found on the relatively long rural distribution feeders. The main factors which contribute to the impacts brought by the WTGs integration onto a conventional distribution network are: The location of interconnecting the WTG/s into the distribution feeder; The size/s of the WTG/s in terms of their electrical wattage penetrating the distribution network; And the type of the WTG interfacing technology used labeled/classified as, Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV WTGs. Even though transformers are the simplest and the most reliable devices in an electrical power system, transformer failures can occur due to internal or external conditions that make the transformer incapable of performing its proper functions. Appropriate transformer protection should be used with the objectives of protecting the electrical power system in case of a transformer failure and also to protect the transformer itself from the power system disturbances like the faults. This paper was to investigate the effects of integrating WTGs on a distribution transformer Fuse-Fuse conventional protection coordination scheme. The radial distribution feeder studied was the IEEE 13 node radial test feeder and it was simulated using the Electrical Transient Analysis Program (ETAP) software for distribution transformer Fuse-Fuse protection coordination analysis. The IEEE 13 Node radial test feeder In-line transformer studied is a three-phase step down transformer having a star solidly grounded primary winding supplied at and a star solidly grounded secondary winding feeding power at a voltage of . The increase on the short circuit currents at the In-line transformer nodes due to the WTG integration continuously reduces the time coordination margins between the upstream fuse F633 and the downstream fuse F634 used to protect the transformer.

Impacts of Placement of Wind Turbine Generators on IEEE 13 Node Radial Test Feeder In-Line Transformer Fuse-Fuse Protection Coordination

The ever increasing global demand on the electrical energy has lead to the integration of Distributed Generators (DGs) onto the distribution power systems networks to supplement on the deficiencies on the electrical energy generation capacities. The high penetration levels of DGs on the electrical distribution networks experienced over the past decade calls for the grid operators to periodically and critically asses the impacts brought by the DGs on the distribution network operations. The assessment on the impacts brought by the DGs on the distribution network operations is done by simulating the dynamic response of the network to major disturbances occurring on the network like the faults once the DGs have been connected into it. Connection of Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) into a conventional electrical energy distribution network has great impacts on the short circuit current levels experienced during a fault and also on the protective devices used in protecting the distribution network equipment namely; the transformers, the overhead distribution lines, the underground cables and the line compensators and the shunt capacitors commonly used/found on the relatively long rural distribution feeders. The main factors which contribute to the impacts brought by the WTGs integration onto a conventional distribution network are: The location of interconnecting the WTG/s into the distribution feeder; The size/s of the WTG/s in terms of their electrical wattage penetrating the distribution network; And the type of the WTG interfacing technology used labeled/classified as, Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV WTGs. Even though transformers are the simplest and the most reliable devices in an electrical power system, transformer failures can occur due to internal or external conditions that make the transformer incapable of performing its proper functions. Appropriate transformer protection should be used with the objectives of protecting the electrical power system in case of a transformer failure and also to protect the transformer itself from the power system disturbances like the faults. This paper was to investigate the effects of integrating WTGs on a distribution transformer Fuse-Fuse conventional protection coordination scheme. The radial distribution feeder studied was the IEEE 13 node radial test feeder and it was simulated using the Electrical Transient Analysis Program (ETAP) software for distribution transformer Fuse-Fuse protection coordination analysis. The IEEE 13 Node radial test feeder In-line transformer studied is a three-phase step down transformer having a star solidly grounded primary winding supplied at and a star solidly grounded secondary winding feeding power at a voltage of . The increase on the short circuit currents at the In-line transformer nodes due to the WTG integration continuously reduces the time coordination margins between the upstream fuse F633 and the downstream fuse F634 used to protect the transformer.

Distribution feeder costs as a function of the penetration of distributed generation – key drivers and trends

Distributed generation (DG) has experienced extraordinary growth in installed capacity in many countries. DG can have a significant impact on both the investment and operational costs of distribution feeders. However, in many contexts, such impact is still not clear. Moreover, the impact of DG could be positive or negative and could be different for different levels of DG penetration. This paper proposes a high-level approach to estimate the cost of distribution feeders as a function of the DG penetration scenario, for different types of medium voltage grids. Grid scenarios include urban and rural feeders, intermittent and conventional DG technologies, different distributions of loads and DG along the feeder, and passive and active voltage regulation. For each grid scenario, we build the curve of total feeder cost as a function of the penetration of DG. We identify the levels of the penetration that create savings and the levels that drive additional costs. We find that, for all the explored medium voltage grids, DG creates savings for low penetration scenarios, but increases the total feeder cost for higher penetrations, which is largely driven by the increase in power losses. We finally discuss the possible policy implications of the resulting cost curves.

Interval Overvoltage Risk Based PV Hosting Capacity Evaluation Considering PV and Load Uncertainties

The increasing penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems presents significant impacts on distribution network (DN) operations. To this end, an accurate evaluation of PV hosting capacity (PVHC) can help utilities to carry out PV capacity planning and configuration more effectively, ensuring the efficiency, economy, and reliability of DNs. First, the definition of interval overvoltage probability (IOP) is introduced and the IOP based PVHC evaluation method is presented. Next, this method is improved considering PV and load uncertainties, where the interval arithmetic (IA) and affine arithmetic (AA) are both applied to deal with uncertainties. In addition, the overvoltage severity is taken into account on the basis of IOP, and the concept of interval overvoltage risk (IOR) is proposed. A practical 55-bus rural feeder in China is used to illustrate the advantages of the proposed method compared with the conventional method, and also to verify the value in decision-making of PV planning for utilities. Moreover, the sensitivity of interval valued PVHC against the number of Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and width of PV installation capacity interval (PICI) is analyzed. And the impacts of on-load tap changer (OLTC) tap positions and static var compensator (SVC) configurations are also explored. Finally, the proposed method is tested on the NYSEG 292-bus system to validate its adaptability on a larger and unbalanced system.

Analysis of Factors Influencing the Price of Paddy Rice in Benue State, Nigeria

The study analyzed the factors influencing the price of paddy rice in Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 113 rice farmers’ marketers using multi-stage sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multi-regression model. The study revealed that respondents were in their active age, mostly males (65.5%), married (69.0%) formal education (79.6%), average marketing experience of 9 years and 10 members per household. Quality type of paddy rice, season and transport cost were the important and significant variables that influence the price of paddy rice in the study area. These were significant at 5%, 5% and 1% levels of probability respectively with an R2 value of 0.77. Based on these findings, it is recommended that government should construct new roads and rehabilitate rural feeder roads to ease movement of produce and also provide incentives to women to encourage them in farming. The three tiers of governments should provide adequate transportation system to help in conveying paddy rice from their place of production to the place of consumption.

Sustainable Development of Agriculture Feeders by Solar-Var Incorporation

Traditional irrigation system in developing countries led to disorganized growth in agricultural load which is creating stress on grid by increasing losses. Therefore, to reduce the effective peak loads of the annual seasons 11 kV rural feeders emanating from Jaipur city_Dis-com, having 33 kV grid sub-station named as Jamwa-Ramgarh is selected for study. Test system is a model of two hundred & thirty bus network planned as per actual connection topology. Case study is carried for 33 kV GSS encircling 230 bus network by estimating and fulfilling VAR requirements with adding solar generation too. The relative study of system with & without solar integration has been simulated. Different loading scenarios (50, 70 & 90 %) are taken care as per agriculture season requirements. Feeder loss identification, network loading level, transformers loading level of the test system are studied with real time data. Lastly detailed researched outputs of savings and earnings to be obtained from solar and VAR integrated model of test system is presented.

SAIDI Constrained Economic Planning and Utilization of Central Storage in Rural Distribution Networks

This paper forms a framework for allocating a central electric energy storage (EES) in discrete communities, forming as segmentations along the rural feeders, where the installation of cross connects are not economic or even feasible. In this framework, EESs that centrally can be installed in each community are owned and operated by an aggregator/retailer, trading bidirectional energy transactions with both the grid and the customers. The objective is to find optimum investment in storage capacity in rural feeders for minimum annual energy purchase cost using energy arbitrage opportunities, while maintaining an allowable level of system average interruption duration index (SAIDI). As a part of EES sizing and siting optimization in this approach, annual hourly network data are utilized for charge/discharge scheduling and constraint, and for system reliability assessment—using the k-means clustering technique. This method is applied to a rural network in Queensland, Australia, and the results are examined to show the effectiveness of this method.

Analyzing Rural Electrification Topologies Based on Induced Voltage at Insulated Shielding Wires

This paper analyses low-cost techniques for rural electrification based on the use of insulated shielding wires of extra-high-voltage transmission lines. The main idea is to use the line capacitive coupling as an auxiliary power supply to remote rural systems. The insulated shielding wire (ISW) will behave as a capacitive voltage divider, promoting low voltage on it. We introduce a comparison of different low-cost electrification methods used over the last years and present a careful analysis of different topologies, which have a major impact on rural voltage regulation. A transient study was implemented to observe the behavior of both the transmission system and the rural feeder under typical switchings.

Two-stage choice-based demand model for rural feeder service to the bus stop

ABSTRACTThe paper documents an experience of developing a demand model for alternatives with dissimilar attributes in the context of transportation services. The work is demonstrated with reference to feeder service to the bus stop in rural India, where the attributes and physical levels of hypothetical feeder service and presently used modes, namely bicycle, and motorcycles, are highly dissimilar. A two-stage approach was adopted in which the first stage analysis included the development of an RPL model to obtain the WTP values of hypothetical feeder service. At this stage, only the attributes of various hypothetical feeder services were considered which were similar in nature. In the second stage, the number of variables describing the hypothetical feeder service was reduced judiciously using the knowledge obtained from stage I analysis and demand models were developed for two user groups, namely bicycle users and motorcycle users. The results indicate the need for improvement of qualitative attributes of feeder service, which are often neglected in emerging countries such as India. Although the results presented in the paper are case-specific, the experiences documented in this paper are expected to encourage transportation planners to follow a similar approach while developing demand models involving dissimilar alternatives.

Power loss minimisation of rural feeder of Jaipur city by renewable-based DG technologies

ABSTRACTPower systems are becoming more complex day by day due to stressed situation in a distribution system, augmented growth in population and high demands of electrical power. In India, the distribution losses are around 20–25%. Distributed Generation (DG) units are broadly used to reduce the power losses in distribution system. To optimise the benefits of DGs, it is essential to determine its appropriate size and location. A new mathematical expression, power voltage sensitivity constant, has been formulated to determine its size and location. In this paper, two types of DG units (PV module and shunt capacitor) are employed for power loss reduction. The size of DG units (PV module) has been restricted to 50% of total system load in the paper. The proposed approach is tested on standard IEEE 69 bus distribution system and 130 bus real distribution system of Jamwa Ramgarh village, Jaipur, India. The results obtained from standard systems are compared with latest optimisation techniques to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach. The results of real systems are also encouraging.

Temporal shift in willingness-to-pay for rural feeder service to bus stop

This paper reports an investigation on the temporal stability of Willingness to Pay (WTP) values with reference to rural feeder service in India. A stated choice experiment was designed and the data were analysed by developing econometric models. The WTP values calculated from the econometric models developed in the current work are compared with the WTP values reported in a previous study for the same geographical catchments to investigate the temporal change in WTP over the period 2005–2014. The feeder service was introduced in the catchments during this period. The WTP values reported in the previous study were also projected using inflation rate to have an estimate of WTP value under current scenario. Subsequently, a comparison is made considering three sets of WTP values: (i) reported in the previous study, (ii) calculated from the current choice experiment, and (iii) estimated using inflation rate. The findings indicate that the change in WTP is not only related to the inflation but also changes in the decision-making environment, like the experience of using the feeder service non-existent earlier. The study clearly justifies the need for re-estimating WTP values by carrying out independent choice experiments rather than projecting values using inflation rate, especially when there are other potential factors (as in this case the experience of using the feeder service) influencing the decision making process.

PROTOCOL: The effects of road infrastructure, and transport and logistics services interventions on women's participation in informal and formal labour markets in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PROTOCOL: The effects of road infrastructure, and transport and logistics services interventions on women's participation in informal and formal labour markets in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PEMEKARAN DESA DAN IMPLIKASINYA TERHADAP KEHIDUPAN MASYARAKAT

ABSTRACT Village Desa Kramat Jaya is a result of the division which was originally a part of the village Werasari. Expansion of the village is one of the steps the government in the distribution of development in an effort to improve the welfare of society through a policy of regional expansion. This research method is descriptive qualitative method with data collection through interviews, observation, documentation and literature. The results of his research is the process of expansion Desa Kramat Jaya stems from government policies as a driver of the expansion, public aspirations at the hamlet, village expansion plan study Kramat Jaya at the village level, the submission to the expansion of local government, and the inauguration of Desa Kramat Jaya. The division has implications for the lives of the people in the village of Kramat Jaya, such as government reform Desa Kramat Jaya, the impact of the reallocation of village on the lives of farmers through the establishment of Farmers Group Association (Gapoktan), and increased welfare through the development of infrastructure such as, village offices, village health post (Poskesdes), rural roads, rural feeder roads, retaining walls (TPT) or irrigation channels, and kiosks. Keyword: process, the implications, the expansion of the village, the community

Effect of Development of Rural Roads and Feeder Service on Trip Characteristics of Households: A Case Study

Over the last decade, India has made significant progress regarding the development of rural roads through a program called as ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’. With improved road infrastructure, small feeder vehicles like tempos and trekkers have started operating in many rural areas. The present paper reports an investigation on the change in trip characteristics of households due to the development of rural road and/or introduction of feeder service (informal service-by private operators). Three geographical areas served by PMGSY roads and/or feeder service in West Midnapore district of West Bengal are considered in the case study. The work indicates that development of rural roads has resulted in an increase in trip rates for all the categories (i.e. work, education and others) made by different categories of household (i.e. farmer, labour, service, business and others). Trip rates are also found to increase for all categories of the household after starting of the feeder service. The feeder service is found to attract predominantly bicycle users from all categories of the household.

Optimum electricity purchase scheduling for aggregator storage in a reliability framework for rural distribution networks

The inclusion of Renewable Energy Resources (RER) and Electric Energy Storage (EES) can significantly improve the reliability of rural feeder customers with no cross connect switches to alternative supply. In such setups, there can be a financial incentive for aggregators to facilitate bulk storage to deal electricity with energy supplier and customers by using optimal scheduling strategy. Within this context, this paper proposes a framework for network reliability assessment to include bulk storage scheduling strategy in the evaluation. In this technique, seasonal effects on load demand and RER output, electricity market price, islanding provisions and EES state of charge (SOC) are taken into consideration. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate the application of this approach and to evaluate the results.

Analysis of traditional fish processing methods among women in Lau Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria

The study analyzed traditional fish processing methods among women in Lau Local Government of Taraba State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were administered to 80 randomly selected respondents from 113 registered fish processors. Percentages, frequencies and multiple regression analysis were used for the data analysis. The study revealed that most (73.75%) of the respondents were within the age range of 30 to 49 years, 73.75% were married with average size of seven people per house hold.  About 73% of the respondents had formal education with average of 19 years processing experience. More than half (51.25%) of the respondents had income of less than N 30,000 and 90.00% of them had no prior contact with extension agents. 77.50% of the respondents adopted  smoking and 10% fermentation/drying as methods of fish processing. The coefficient of determination (R²) was estimated at 0.974 indicating that 97.4% of the variation was explained by the variables (Age, house hold size and education) included in the model. Smoke pollution, poor transportation network and seasonality of fish were the major problems confronting the respondents. The findings recommended that the fisheries unit of agricultural extension agency and research institutes should device appropriate or improved methods of processing fish locally that will be less hazardous to health and environmentally suitable. Government should engage in rehabilitation of rural feeder roads leading to the processing communities to improve transportation system and reduce cost.

Distribution networks HIF location: A frequency domain system model and WLS parameter estimation approach

High impedance fault location still represents a challenge for protection engineers. In this work, an analytical formulation for high impedance fault location in power distribution systems is presented, based on system parameters estimation. The proposed method is based on a frequency domain system model, developed considering a high impedance fault model composed by two antiparallel diodes and an arc resistance. The proposed model is an overdetermined nonlinear algebraic system of equations in which the solution is obtained through a Weighted Least Square approach. A residual analysis is applied for estimate selection. The proposed method considers the capacitive effect through an exact line segment model for overhead distribution lines, using only local voltages and currents as input data. Validation is done through numerical simulations using the IEEE system 13 buses test feeder, a real distribution system from the RGE Sul Power Utility (Southern Brazil), and a real high impedance fault recorded from a digital relay. Comparative test results with the state-of-the-art highlights the method's high accuracy, indicating potential aspects for real life application. Overall average errors of 0.3% considering a complete HIF model were obtained, and a 1.39% error considering a real HIF in a rural feeder. The formulation is currently used by protection engineers at RGE Sul as a reliability oriented tool.

Highlighting the Importance of Chronology on Voltage Protection and Control in Active Distribution Networks

This paper highlights the importance of chronology on voltage protection and control apparatuses in studies of voltage security in active distribution networks with high generation capacity. This paper presents simulation results of a real-life example of a long rural distribution feeder having three voltage regulators in cascade, and a customer whose demand accounts for a large percentage of the total feeder load. The customer is also an independent power producer and its location at the far end of the feeder yields an intricate voltage protection coordination when the customer ramps up and down its own generation at the peak-demand period.