Allocation Planning Tool for Determining

the Optimal Location and Sizing of Distributed

Generations in Provincial Electricity Authority of
Thailand

By Poonsak Saraisuwan

Department of Electrical Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Outline
Introduction
Problem formulation
DG allocation planning tool
Case studies and simulation
results
Conclusion

Introduction
Electrical energy consumption has
been increasing in every years.
This consumption must be met by
enlarging the capacity of generation,
transmission, and distribution systems.
Distributed generations (DG) offer the
solution to generation and distribution
systems constraints.
The installation of DG units at nonappropriate location and sizing can
result in an increasing in power losses
or violations of system constraints.

GWh
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000

The forecast of electrical energy from 2006 - 2015

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Year

From : http://www.eppo.go.th
DG
Reducing total
system power
losses

Improving power
transactions

Introduction (cont)
Development of DG allocation planning tool for determining
the optimal location and sizing of distributed generations
Writing DIgSILENT Programming Language (DPL) script
in DIgSILENT PowerFactory software.
There are two objective functions subjected to practical
system constraints that can be selected by users.
Daily load curve data are incorporated into the analysis tool.
Analytical results
Output windows of PowerFactory
Microsoft Excel

Problem Formulation
The objective functions of DG allocation is formulated as a
minimization of energy losses function or a maximization of
benefit to cost ratio.
Using

M in . f1 E L D G

Planning and recommendation

by electric utilities

Selection
B
M ax . f 2
C

Using

Investment
planning
by
electric utilities or investorowned utilities

Problem Formulation (cont)

According to Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) of
Thailand regulations for DG connection
1.

System loading
composed of line and transformer loading
limit must be kept within 90 %

2.

Voltage limit
Voltages limit at each bus must be stay
within 0.95-1.05 pu.

3.

Reverse power
Total electric power generated by DG may
be larger than the total loads in the same
distribution system.
The surplus power called reverse power
Reverse power flow back into the substation
is restricted by limiting DG capacity not to
exceed power load on the system.

S L S Lmax
i

max
STR STR
i

Vimin Vi Vimax

withDG
Plevel
0
n
o
i
t
a
t
s
b
u
S

+P
-P

d
a
o
L

Problem Formulation (cont)

4.

5.

6.

Short circuit level

short circuit current limits at point of
common coupling, within 25 %
short circuit current interrupting
capacity limits due to DG
connection, within 85 %
Step voltage change
comparison of voltage at each bus
between prior and after DG
connection
Energy losses
comparison of total energy losses
between prior and after DG
connection

IPCC
IC

VCi

( I SC , DG I SC , w / oDG )
I SC , w / oDG
I SC , DG
I SC ,rate

100

100

Vi , w / oDG Vi , wDG

x 100
Vi , w / oDG

4% VCi 4%

EL ELw / oDG
PEL DG
100

ELw / oDG

PEL 2%

Problem Formulation (cont)

The exterior penalty function

Penalty function

( xi ximax ) 2 if xi ximax

h( x i ) ( ximin xi ) 2 if xi ximin

min
max
0
if
x

x
i
i
i

X imin

X imax

Total penalty function

PE h(Vi ) h( Si ) h( PSub ) h( ICi ) h( IPCCi ) h(VCi ) h( PEL )

M in . f1 E L D G P E

M ax . f 2

B PE
C

DG allocation planning tool

DG Planning Tool
1. Input systems section
- GIS

- Create new project

2.

Calculation engine
- Writing DPL Script

3. Report section
- DIgSILENT PowerFactory
- Microsoft Excel

The proposed DG Allocation Algorithm

Input Parameter

DPL Script

Load flow calculation

tk

Nk

Nk 24 duration
tk 1 hour

Daily Load Curve

Flowchart of the time sweep function

Case studies and simulation results

T
N
E
L
I
S
g
I
D

Load 7

s
u
B
k
c
a
l
S

General L..

Bus7

Bus8
)
(5
e
in
L

Line(7)

Line(3)

Line(4)

5
s
u
B

Bus6

Line(2)

..
lL
a
r
e
n
e
G

..
lL
a
r
e
n
e
G

)6
(e
in
L

General L..

..
la
L
r
e
n
e
G
Line(1)

4
s
u
B
Bus9

Line

d
a
o
lL
a
re
n
e
G

3
s
u
B

2
s
u
B

1
s
u
B

Topic
d
i
r
G
l
a
n
r
e
t
x
E

General L..

9-bus test system

The sizing of DG is varied from 0.05 - 8 MW.
Minimum point

The first objective function values at all locations

and sizes of DG evaluated in one day

Result

The first objective function

Location
Sizing
The comparison Energy losses

Bus 4
2.10 MW
Reduce 63.44 %

The second objective function

Location
Sizing
The comparison Energy losses

Bus 3
3.25 MW
Reduce 56.29 %

Maximum point

The results of the second objective function at all

locations and sizes of DG in 5 year

Case studies and simulation results

Topic

The 437-bus of PEA distribution system which

is imported to PowerFactory

Result

The first objective function

Location
Sizing
The comparison Energy losses

NRB02N_242
5.5 MW
Reduce 81.03 %

The second objective function

Location
Sizing
The comparison Energy losses

NRB02N_134
5.5 MW
Reduce 37.90 %

Results of the first objective function and energy

losses at the optimal location with various sizes of DG

Results of the second objective function at the

optimal location with various sizes of DG

Conclusion
The proposed DG allocation planning tool could be efficiently
and effectively used for determining the optimal location and
sizing of DG.
The planning tool can be used for practical distribution
systems.
The planning tool considering both technical and economic
conditions can reduce total energy losses under normal and
practically constrained conditions.
The planning tool lead a higher efficiency level of power
generation and distribution systems.

Acknowledgment
Chiang Mai University
Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand

Thank you for

your kind attention