Investigation of Voltage Profiles and Power Losses in Radial Distribution Feeders Based on Smart Meter Data (Raparin Substation as a Case Study)

In modern societies, electric energy usage become an essential need in daily life. The number of customers and their appliances increases continuously and the load (stress) on the distribution feeders increases accordingly. The distribution feeder is the final stage that delivers energy to the customers directly and contributes to about eighty percent of the power outages to the customers.
Previously, conducting studies on distribution networks was difficult, because of the difficulty to collect data and sometimes due to the unavailability of accurate data. Nowadays emerging smart meters (SM) in distribution networks provide a great opportunity to collect the necessary data for such studies.
In this study, the data was collected for ten feeders of the Raparin substation as a case study, since they are provided with smart meters for the transformers and all the consumers. These feeders consist of 156 branches and 331 nodes. In order to deliver good power to the customers and obtain their satisfaction it is necessary to monitor and control the operation of the distribution feeders.
Modeling and simulation for each feeder with different case studies are achieved during maximum and minimum load periods using ETAB software. Power flow using ETAB at maximum load is performed in order to find active and reactive losses with voltage profiles in each branch and at each node. While the power flow during minimum load is necessary to monitor the increase in voltage level so as that avoid undesirable events.