Distribution Automation

Dr. M. K. Khedkar
Prof. & Head
Electrical Engineering
VNIT, Nagpur

PROBLEMS
SYSTEM

WITH

EXISTING

DISTRIBUTION

The annual load growth is high (around 10% to 12 %)

necessitating setting up of additional system facilities every year
to meet the growing demand.
The power losses in distribution network are high around 15%
of total energy generated and reduction of loss is profitable.
The distribution equipment is fully loaded or overloaded
causing high equipment failure rate.
The power factor of system is poor, requiring efficient reactive
power management.

 The agricultural pump sets contribute for 80% of peak demand in

rural area and 40 % of total energy sales and therefore load control
of agricultural pump sets is very attractive.
Voltage profile of system is unsatisfactory.
The number of breakdowns and momentary interruptions on
distribution feeder are high.

Typical Power System

Generating Plant
Step-up
transformers
Circuit breakers

Generation System

Transmission System

Transmission System

Transformers in
Bulk power
substations

Distribution System
substations
transformers
circuit breakers
feeders
sectionalizing switches
capacitor banks
voltage regulators
DSGs
customers
- HT customers
- LT customers

Dispersed
Storage and
generation
(DSG)
Solar or
Wind
Sources
(100KW to
1MW)

Sub-transmission
system
Distribution
substation
DSG

Threephase
Primary
feeders

Sectionalizing
switch

Battery or
Fuel cells,
1 to 25 MW

Capacitor
bank

Primary
circuits
One-phase
lateral feeder

Distribution
Transformer

DSG

Photovoltaic
Power supply,
up to 100 KW

Home

Voltage
Regulator

Need For Distribution Automation

The evolutionary growth in microprocessor based devices and
telecommunication equipment and network have brought the
possibility of integrating protection, control, metering, automation
and monitoring system cost effectively. This will considerably
improve system reliability, quality of supply, and customer service
and defer capital investment on system expansion. Distribution
automation and system monitoring meet the demands and
requirements in improving service reliability at a lower cost.

Need For Distribution Automation

The real need for advanced distribution automation is associated with
the growing demand for the reliability of power supply and desire for
optimized network conditions in normal and emergency operations.
One of the most important aspects of distribution automation system is
featured by the electric utility dispatchers ability to remotely monitor,
coordinate and operate distribution components.

D.A. is an integrated concept for automation and digital control

functions of substations, lines and users. It includes control,
monitoring and safety of the system and load management. The
concept is based on use of technological advancements in computer
sciences and electronics in power delivery system
.
Automation provides automatic reclosing of relays, feeder
switching, remote monitoring of transformers, capacitors, circuit
breakers, sectionalizers, protections, at all levels. By virtue of real
time on-line monitoring and scheduling D.A. allows the system
operation with lesser capacity margins and reserves.

Objectives Of Distribution automation

The following are objectives for the DAS:
i. Reduce peak load and power losses to overcome prevailing
power shortages and defer construction of distribution facilities.
ii. Improve the reliability of supply by reducing the number and
duration of outages, and improve the quality of service.
iii. Improve the financial performance of the utility by improved
cash flow, safeguarding revenues, and preventing theft of
power.`

Function of Distribution Automation System

Remotely monitors the distribution system,

facilitates supervisory control of devices and
provides decision support tools to improve the
system performance
SCADA
(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition)

Application Functions

Levels of Automation

Substation Level Automation

Feeder Level Automation
Customer Level Automation

Operational problems and Potential Applications of DAS

Fault ___location, isolation and Service Restoration

Maintaining good voltage profile
Load Balancing
Load Control
Metering
Maintaining Maps
Fuse-off call operations
Energy accounting

Candidate Distribution Automation Functions

Substation
Automation
Functions

Data Acquisition From:

- Circuit Breakers
- Load Tap Changers
- Capacitor Banks
- Transformers
Supervisory Control of:
- Circuit Breakers
- Load Tap Changers
- Capacitor banks
Fault Location
Fault Isolation
Service Restoration
Substation Reactive
Power Control

Feeder Automation
Functions

Data Acquisition From:

- Line Reclosers
- Voltage Regulators
- Capacitor Banks
- Sectionalizers
- Line Switches
- Fault Indicators
Supervisory Control of:
- Line Reclosers
- Voltage Regulators
- Capacitor Banks
- Sectionalizers
- Line Switches
Fault Location
Fault Isolation
Service Restoration
Feeder Reconfiguration
Feeder Reactive Power
Control

Customer Interface
Automation
Functions

Automatic Meter Reading

Remote Reprogramming
of Time-of-Use (TOU)
Meters
Remote Service
Connect/Disconnect
Automated Customer
Claims Analysis

Control Center Architecture

RTUs in
the field

Modems

DAH
App Server

SCADA Host Systems

FES
1&2

LAN

MMI 1

MMI 6

PERIPHERAL
SERVER -1

Printer
Sharer

PERIPHERAL
SERVER -2

..

Video
Projector

DMP -1
Time
Center
DMP -2
DT 1 & 2

Application Functions
Network Reconfiguration
a) Fault localization
b) Service Restoration
c) Load Balancing
Integrated Volt-Var Control
Remote Metering
Automatic Load Shedding
Load Management
Automated Mapping and Facilities Management (AM/FM)
Trouble Call Management System (TCMS)
Load Survey and Energy Accounting

Network Reconfiguration - Fault Localization

Locates faulty section in a radial distribution feeder by

operating Load Break Switches on a feeder
Localization is faster compared to manual determination of
faulty section
Illustration:

A radial feeder

Fault

Fault localization

Fault

CB Close

LB Sw Close

Network Reconfiguration - Service Restoration

Restores service to non-faulty feeder sections by reconfiguration

Considerations
* Presence of alternate paths
* Operation of LB switches
* Need to have remotely controllable switches
* Restoration based on
- satisfaction of current and voltage constraints
- minimum switches
- minimum losses

Network Reconfiguration - Load Balancing

Composition and hence consumption patterns of loads on

different feeders are different
To distribute loads among transformers/feeders
Remote control of switches for reconfiguration

Load Balancing - Illustration

Feeder 1

Feeder 2

Initial
configuration

Final
configuration

Integrated Volt-Var Control

Applied on feeders with capacitors and voltage regulators

Control of capacitor banks and voltage regulators
Schedule for switching and tap control
To meet reactive power requirements and reduce losses

Remote Metering

Uses of electro-static meters

Customer meter reading
Facilitates Multiple tariff
Detection of Meter tampering
More justifiable at HT (high value) Customers

Automatic Load Shedding

Under Frequency based load shedding

Sensing Frequency through transducers
Load shedding based on the frequency drop, current loading
conditions and priority of the load
Closed loop function at RTU level

Load Management - Scheduled power cuts

Illustration

Gap between generation and demand

Schedule power cuts on rotation
Automatic load shedding based on schedules
Facility to change the schedules

Schedules for Power

cut on Feeders
(6 to 7)
(7 to 8)
(8 to 9)
(9 to 10)

Load Management - Emergency based load shedding

Gap between power generation and load demand due to

sudden contingencies
To shed the loads based on the relief required
Identification of loads to be shed based on
- current load magnitudes
- priority of the load
- time when last shed
Shed the load based on the above factors

Load Management - Agricultural load control

Importance of Agricultural load

Separate schedule for Agricultural loads
Ag. Loads categorized into groups
Schedule for each group
Shed the load based on the schedule
Use of one-way radio switch
- Accepts a command to shed
- Restores automatically

Automated Mapping and Facilities Management (AM/FM)

Display of geographical Maps

Dynamic info on Maps
(From T&D World, Oct 2001)

Layering, Zooming, Scrolling and Panning

Historical data on Devices

(From T&D World, Oct 2001)

Trouble Call Management System (TCMS)

Responds to customer complaints

Acceptance of interruption/restoration data from the operator
Distribution Transformer trip/close info from SCADA
Determination of source of interruption
Improvement of response time to customer complaints

Load Survey and Energy Accounting

Availability of continuous data on loads etc.,

Determination of Load Patterns
Data for planning
Detection of abnormal energy consumption pattern
Identification of high loss areas

Overall Schematic Diagram of Gachibowli DA Project

Why Distribution Automation ?

Benefits
- Tangible
- In-tangible

Tangible Benefits
Substation
Automation
Reduction in Capital Expenditure
due to:
Deferment of additional substation
facilities
Effective utilization of substation
facilities
Reduction in O&M Costs of Breaker
switching for:
Routine Operations
Non-Routine Operations
Reduction in O&M Costs of LTC
Operation for:
Routine LTC Operations
Non-Routine Operations
Reduction in O&M Costs for:
Routine Relay Testing
Relay Setting
Reduction in O&M Costs of:
Routine Data Collection
Non-Routine Data Collection
Data Analysis
Testing of Data Logging Devices
Repair of Data Logging Devices

Feeder
Automation

Customer interface
Automation

Reduction in Capital Expenditure

due to:
Deferment of additional feeders
Effective utilization of existing
feeders

Reduction in O&M Costs of:

Regular Meter Reading
Reprogramming of Meters
Service Connect/Disconnect
Processing of Customer Claims

Reduction in O&M Costs of:

Fault Location and Isolation
Service Restoration
Routine Switching Operations
Recloser Setting
Recloser Testing
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Feeder Reconfiguration
Capacitor Banks Inspection

Increased Revenue Due to:

Reduction of System Peak Load
Tamper Detection to Reduce
Electricity Theft
Reduced Payments for Customer
Claims

Increased Revenue Due to:

Loss Reduction due to Feeder
Reconfiguration
Loss Reduction due to Capacitor
Banks Automation
Faster Service Restoration

Intangible Benefits
Benefit
Category

Substation
Automation

Improved Service
Reliability

Applicable

Customer interface
Feeder
Automation Automation
Applicable

Not Applicable

Improved Customer
Satisfaction

Applicable

Applicable

Applicable

Improved Public
Safety

Applicable

Applicable

Not Applicable

Better Information
for Engineering and
Planning

Applicable

Applicable

Applicable

Strategic or
Marketing
Advantages

Applicable

Applicable

Applicable

Improved Public
Image

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Applicable

A. Recent Trends in Distribution Engineering

1. Advancements In Power Delivery
2. Revolution In Utility Industry.
3.Automations
4.Data Flow
5.Equipment Monitoring
6.Condition Monitoring
7.Maintenance Intervals
8.Enhanced Monitoring

1. Advancements In Power Delivery

Back in old days, field communications being paper based,
it would take customer a while to notify a fault.And still longer
for the utility to locate and repair the fault.
Two way radios, portable telephones, commercial links,
pagers, cell phones expensive modem and software
gradually pressed into service. And now companies: are
providing low cost,real time,high power devices for unlimited
data flow in voice,soft or hard forms at affordable rates.

2. Revolution In Utility Industry.

Within a short span, IT has invoked dramatic trends in the
power utility services.
Activities, as diverse as generation,
transmission,supply,distribution,commercial
settlements,dispatching,frequency linked tariff,and
customer relations are getting seamlessly integrated online.
Privatization,competition,computerization, sleek
designs,compact foot prints,advanced engineering
materials are all aiding these trend settings.

3. Automations

Electric industry used to have the hardware and the

technicians as its backbone.
In some utilities remote actuation devices like
sectionalizes,automatic switches, autoreclosers
motorized ACBs etc have been in use for many years.
But these systems have been slower, taking seconds
and minutes when compared to resolutions in milli and
micro seconds in vogue currently .

4. Data flow
Utilities
are
installing
LAN(Local
Area
Network)in the substations,and connected to
WAN(Wide Area Network) of the utility.
Higher bandwidth provided by LAN/WAN is
allowing much faster data transfer and useful
information.
Scada has brought high degree of reliability.
It would be a nightmare to operate large modern
grids without Scada, waiting for crew to drive out
and operate the CBs manually, entailing long
outages for clients.

5. Equipment monitoring
While load demands are rising utilities are not finding it
affordable to fast replace or supplement the equipment.
Substation devices that run on 100%Plus overload have
to be watched meticulously.
Utilities rely on monitors and diagnostic
software programs.

tools and

Visual line or substation inspections or periodic DGA

testing are no more tolerable.
On-line computer aided monitoring is pre-requisite for
high tech & efficient service

6.Condition monitoring
Older programs created panic whenever a single
parameter would be unusual.
On-line techniques co-relate many others to the one
affected.
For decades, maintenance intervals were set and
followed.
Now reliability has overtaken the rituals.
Periodic maintenance is coming to an end.
Condition monitoring is tool to get most out of
existing equipment & to cut costs.

7.Maintenance Intervals
Maintenance intervals are no more as per schedule
but as dictated by monitoring.
On-Load-Tap-Changers(OLTC),for
example,may
have checks scheduled after 20,000 operations, but
monitoring of load current, temp;and oil (for
combustibles) may allow far more number of
operations.
Each device is to be treated differently.
Device with history is monitored & maintained more
vigorously.