Balancing of single phase loads in a low voltage power system at the distribution and unit level

Abstract

The major concern in electricity production is ensuring that the quality of the supplied electricity meets a certain criterion. With the rapid advancement in technology, the continuous changes in consumption, and the insertion of new energy sources such as renewable energy add stress on the network. Therefore, maintaining the quality of the supplied power became a must. New methods are suggested in many studies to be introduced to the network. One of these methods deals with load balancing at low voltage. The electronics equipment made load reconfiguration one of the best less complicated solutions applied to reach balance. While most of the focus is shifted on reducing power losses through network reconfiguration at the feeder level, the focus of this study is on finding the optimal consumers load rearrangement at the installation level. These changes are made to achieve balance between the phases and guarantee a reduction in the electric bill. Also, balancing has an effect on fuel consumption reduction resulting in positive effect on the environment. The automatic balancing is based on an appropriate switching technique that follows certain constraints and equations to optimize load distribution. This method is proven to be robust guaranteeing better results when compared to other techniques. After applying the studied algorithm on real data of different types of loads, i.e. houses, institutes, industries with different load profiles. The percentage of unbalance dropped below 1% using phase commitment algorithm. Also, the neutral current and the difference between the phases is minimal compared to other techniques. This diminution result in cost and energy savings for any type of loads.