Investment Deferral of Feeder Upgrades Revealed by System-Wide Unbalanced Dynamic Rating: Harvesting the Hidden Capacity of Distribution Systems Discovered by Thermal Map Technology

Akim Borbuev, Wenbo Wang, Haowei Lu, Saeed Jazebi, Francisco De Leon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Dynamic thermal rating for underground cables with balanced phase currents has been extensively studied in the literature. Paradoxically, distribution feeders operate inherently unbalanced and no publications are available for unbalanced thermal rating. Because of the lack of technology, utilities operate with very conservative margins using the maximum of the three-phase currents to determine the line loading. This practice leads to the significant underutilization of underground cables. To fill the gap this paper presents a physically sound and accurate transient electro-thermal model of unbalanced three-phase distribution cables considering variations in the load and environment. Moreover, the model proposed in this paper allows harvesting the large hidden capacity of distribution systems trapped in the thermal inertia of underground cables. A convenient visual tool is developed to uncover hot spots and underutilized energy routes. This facilitates real-time network reconfiguration based on predicted load graphs and dynamic thermal conditions. The proposed model is also useful to study load growth, perhaps eliminating or deferring capital investments needed to upgrade the capacity of the existing underground feeders. The IEEE 37-bus distribution network is used as a case study. The results show that the proposed methodology has a high potential to defer investments, for instance, one could save $5M for a small system like the IEEE 37-bus distribution network which would have been necessary under current conservative practice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number9146778
Pages (from-to)1594-1602
Number of pages9
JournalIEEE Transactions on Power Delivery
Volume36
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Keywords

  • Cables
  • distribution systems
  • dynamic thermal rating
  • network reconfiguration
  • unbalanced circuits

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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