TIME-VARYING LOAD ANALYSIS TO REDUCE DISTRIBUTION LOSSES THROUGH RECONFIGURATION

An electrical distribution system reconfiguration algorithm to reduce system losses is presented. The algorithm calculates switching patterns as a function of time. Either seasonal or daily time studies may be performed. Both manual and automatic switches are used to reconfigure the system for seasonal studies, whereas only automatic switches are considered for daily studies. A load estimation algorithm provides load information for each time point to be analyzed. The load estimation algorithm can incorporate any or all of the following: spot loads, circuit measurements, and customer time-varying diversified load characteristics. Voltage dependency of loads is considered at the circuit level. It is shown that switching at the system peak can reduce losses but may cause a marginal increase in system peak. Data structures used to model loads and to store switch configurations as a function of time are described. Example problems are provided to illustrate results.