Technical and Nontechnical Energy Loss Estimation Including Volt/Var Control for Active Distribution Systems

• Published in: Journal of control, automation & electrical systems automation & electrical systems, 2022-02, Vol.33 (1), p.255-267
• Main Authors: Biazzi, Roberta Razzolini, Bernardon, Daniel Pinheiro, Becker, Eduarda, de Chiara, Lucas Melo, Silva, Juliano Andrade
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active control; Capacitor banks; Combinatorial analysis; Control; Control and Systems Theory; Control equipment; Distributed generation; Electrical Engineering; Energy dissipation; Energy distribution; Engineering; Feeders; Geographic information systems; Mechatronics; Optimization; Optimization techniques; Power factor; Power flow; Reactive power; Reduction; Robotics; Robotics and Automation; Smart grid; Supervisory control and data acquisition; Voltage regulators
• ISSN: 2195-3880; 2195-3899
• DOI: 10.1007/s40313-021-00813-x

This paper presents the development and application of methods to estimate and reduction energy losses in active distribution system with the support of smart grids technologies. Technical and nontechnical losses are accurate estimated using energy balance and power flow analysis. In technical losses reduction perspective, a heuristic volt/var control (VVC) strategy is considered. The optimization technique employed in VVC allows reaching the optimized solution through a reduced combinatorial analysis and computational intensity, once explores only the calculus of potential solutions of the problem. The space of search is define according to the effectiveness of control equipment in technical loss minimization, being able to acts on the adjustment of conventional and electronics control devices. The methods consider real data of measurement and grid parameters given by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the historical billing of energy utility. Two real distribution feeder are used to assess the robustness of proposed methodologies. The control variable considered in the optimized process are based on available control devices on those feeders and comprise TAP position of voltage regulators, reactive power inject by the capacitor banks and power factor variation in smart inverters used in grid-connected distributed generation. The experimental analyzes conducted in this paper showed promisor results, detecting the occurrence of abnormal nontechnical losses and optimizing the technical losses value in relation to a traditional scheme control.