Cost and Loss Evaluation of Ground Systems for Four-Wires Low Voltage Distribution Networks - A case study on AEPDCO sector

considering neutral wire is one of the very important issues in Low Voltage (LV) distribution networks. Importance of this smaller size wire in distribution networks returns to the unbalance currents and voltages in LV networks. For better accuracy and real approach, including neutral wire in power flow is vital, and without considering it, power flow will give wrong results, and system management will have improper feedbacks. On the other side, grounding issues are one of the vital actions done especially in distribution networks to reduce losses in these networks. In this paper, an unbalanced three-phase power flow is taken especially for LV distribution networks with considering Neutral wire, and multi-grounded neutral wires for sake of loss reduction. Then, cost evaluation of ground systems for the sake of each saved KW will be given. Two case studies, one simulation in IEEE test system and one real example from AEPDCO have been simulated.

Keywords:

Low-Voltage Distribution Networks , Grounding System , Unbalanced Power Flow , Neutral Wire , Loss Reduction , Cost Evaluation