Distribution System Planning Considering Power Quality, Loadability and Economic Aspects

Performance and economic aspects must be considered in order to expand the distribution system network adequately. Ideally, the assessment of the continuity of supply, voltage signal quality and loadability should be carried out altogether aiming to support decisions over different planning alternatives. This paper proposes to map the network performance in terms of the availability, voltage signals, technical losses and operational limits for a planning horizon. Economic costs to build seven planning alternatives are also estimated including costs for maintenance, deployment and energy not supplied. The proposed approach combines a three-phase power flow tool and a short-circuit algorithm within a sequential Monte Carlo simulation approach to evaluate performance indices. Results show that a trade-off among criteria such as continuity and power quality is required on choosing the most suitable alternative. The study is applied to the UFSC 16 Node Test Feeder.