Impact of Embedded Generation on Power Distribution System Voltage Collapse

Abstract

The term “embedded generation”(EG) refers to electricity generation connected at distribution level rather than transmission level.

E.G. can reduce the effect of losses while providing reactive power and contingency reserves to the network.

It can also reduce the need for new transmission and distribution facilities consequently reducing overall costs.

A distribution system is the system of an overall power system which links the bulk system to the individual customers.

Voltage stability is an important performance index which defines the quality of supply.

This paper presents the impact of embedded generation (EG) on power distribution system voltage collapse.

ABUAD is considered as a case study in the research paper. The voltage stability indices (VSI) are calculated and assessed. The distribution network is reconfigured and the new values of VSI were computed to analyze the optimum configuration.

The result of the paper showed that after thee reconfiguration of the system network the maximum KW, KVAR and KVA connected loads on the four selected transformers have increased by 9.11%, 9.04% and 8.44% respectively.

The VSI for transformer T1 has increased from 0.0035 to 0.00362 while the VSI for transform T2 also decreased from 0.003845 to 0.0037 after the network reconfiguration. The VSI for transformer T3 and T4 remained constant even after the system network has been modified. The distribution system can be optimized for improved performance indices of which voltage stability is significant.

Keywords: Embedded Generation, Voltages Collapse, Stability Index, Distribution Networks, Reconfiguration, Improved Performance, Transformers.