Distributed Generation in Railroad Power Supply Systems

The aim of studies presented in this article is to determine energy efficiency of distributed generation (DG) plants in railroads power supply systems (RPSS). The study was carried out using Fazonord software application designed for power supply systems simulation in phase coordinates. The results obtained proved that the following positive results can be obtained based on DG plants: reduction in energy supply costs due to the lower cost of electricity generated at its own cogeneration plants (CGP), compared with the rates of the energy supplying entity; reduction of power losses at the main sections of supplying power line on average by 53-58%, in traction transformers - by 18–32%. The use of automatic excitation controllers of CGP generators that maintain constant voltage levels on 10 kV buses allows to increase the effect of power line losses reduction by up to 80%, as well as to stabilize voltages on load utilizing equipment of electric locomotives; in which case the amplitude of these voltages decreases by about 25%.