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Master Plan for the Electricity Distribution Network of Istanbul European Side

Conference Paper · August 2007

DOI: 10.1109/PESAFR.2007.4498101 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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IEEE PES PowerAfrica 2007 Conference and Exposition
Johannesburg, South Africa, 16-20 July 2007

Master Plan for the Electricity Distribution

Network of Istanbul European Side

M. E. Cebeci, O. B. Tör, U. Karaağaç, M. Altın, M. Akdeniz, and A. Nadar

TÜBİTAK-UZAY, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract – This study presents the methodology, studies and voltage level for standardization and dispose the losses on
results of the electricity power distribution system master plan for both 34.5/10.5kV transformers and 10.5kV cable network [1].
the Istanbul City European Side. Mid-term demand projection The master plan study evaluates those regions either has to be
study made for the city based on the historical development, upgraded or remained as 10.5kV.
transformer loading measurements, municipality plans, and
constraints specific to the metropolitan are discussed. A
conservative planning solution for the next 5 years period is
proposed with additional suggestions based on the observations
and experience gained during on-site studies.

I. INTRODUCTION

The ongoing restructuring efforts in all segments of

Turkish electricity sector force all of the state-owned
electricity distribution companies in the country to make
more careful and conservative plans. Boğaziçi Electricity
Distribution Company (Boğaziçi EDC) is among those
companies which have been serving for the electricity
distribution of Istanbul City European Side since 1995. (The
term “Istanbul” will refer to European side of Istanbul
throughout the paper.) Supply of the high power demand
increase (~8% average per year) is the main issue to be
solved by the company, particularly in congested
metropolitan regions of the city. According to the current
regulations, the company has to declare 5-years master plan
to the state-owned transmission company, TEİAŞ. The
pressure on the Boğaziçi EDC regarding planning is due to
the fact that the company is expected to be privatized within
the near future, and essentially, the planning department of
the company concerns for the most economical and reliable
master plan avoiding to take the responsibility of more
comprehensive planning solutions that require high budget.
This paper presents the methodology, studies and results of
the electrical distribution system master plan project for
Istanbul, the largest metropolitan region in Turkey with more
than 10 million population. Peak power demand of Istanbul
was occurred as ~4GVA in 2005. This demand was supplied
through 30 transmission substations (High Voltage/Medium
Voltage (HV/MV) with total capacity of ~6.5GVA (Fig. 1).
Total capacity of the transformers installed in the system is
~9GVA (MV/MV and MV/Low Voltage (LV). Voltage
levels of both 34.5kV and 10.5kV had been selected as the
standard MV levels of the distribution system. Boğaziçi EDC
intends to upgrade the 10.5kV parts of the distribution system
to 34.5kV level systematically, in order to have a unique
Fig. 1. Istanbul European Side Electricity Distribution Regions
(Dark regions correspond to urban regions).
In the scope of master plan, first the electricity power
demand projection was performed for the next 5 years. If
compared to old city districts (like the well known historical
peninsula region), the demand forecast for the developing
zones, which are already organized by the municipality, is
obviously rather straightforward. Therefore, the planning
approaches for such zones are not considered in this paper
which focuses rather on more challenging metropolitan
regions. Then, in order to ensure that there is adequate
substation capacity (transformer capacity) and feeder
capacity to meet the load forecasts within the planning
horizon, alternatives such as procuring transformers,
building new feeders and new substations evaluated [2].
II. METHODOLOGY AND STUDIES
One of the major concerns with the old city districts of
Istanbul is the classification of the load type. In several zones,
workshops have been located at the basements and initial
floors of the residential buildings. Therefore, different types
of customers have located at the same buildings.
Consequently, the residential, commercial and industrial
loads, whose characteristics are quite different, have merged

1-4244-1478-4/07/$25.00 ©2007 IEEE

gradually. The ratio of the loads should be known in order to
make a realistic demand projection. Moreover, the lack of
customer database makes the classification and essentially
demand forecast issue more difficult. The distribution
company has a customer database indicating the load type.
However, it has not being updated regularly by the company.
Therefore, the database ignores the fact that the considerable
amount of customers has concealed their exact electrical
demand characteristic intentionally, in order to take
advantage of residential rates.
Another concern is the lack of demand records at the
distribution level. Boğaziçi EDC keeps the measurements of
HV/MV substation transformer loadings for the last ten years.
However, the measurements of the MV/MV and MV/LV
Distribution Transformer Centers (DTC) loadings have not
been kept for a period long enough to apply sophisticated
projection approaches.
In consequence, on-site visits were the indispensable stage
in the master plan project, particularly for the congested old
city districts, due to the reasons some of which are mentioned
above. On-site studies involve visits to the DTCs,
measurements of the peak loads, and interviews with the
representatives of both Boğaziçi EDC and municipality of the
city to get information about the load characteristics.
A. On-site studies
Parallel work has performed with about 75 people
(including engineers and technicians) during on-site visits. All
MV/MV substations and more than 5000 DTCs were visited
within 3 months. Asset conditions including the substation
buildings and the areas suitable for the possible new
substation buildings were determined during these visits.
Energy meters were installed at all MV/MV substations and
the outgoing feeder loadings were logged during a period of
week to observe the daily load curves and determine the peak
demand intervals of each feeder. Based on the recordings, the
distribution substations that fed from the feeders equipped
with meters were visited to reveal the peak loadings of each
transformer on the feeders.
In addition, the customer profile was classified in terms of
wealth level based on the observations during on-site visits
and interviews with Boğaziçi EDC, the municipality (Istanbul
Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Centre (IMP),
Prime Ministry Turkish Statistical Institute and Prime
Ministry State Planning Organization (SPO).
B. Asset database
One of the main issue specific to Turkey in all sectors
including power distribution is the obligatory retirement (due
to legislation) of highly experienced personnel. It was
observed that the loss of knowledge/experience has decreased
the performance measures of the company dramatically due to
lack of a centralized database. For example, the identification
of a faulted point on an underground cable, in particular at the
metropolitan regions, has almost completely been based on
the experience of personnel. The geographical placement of
the underground cables has not been recorded to a database
unfortunately. This dependency on personnel experience
indispensably affects the fault isolation and restoration
periods. Essentially, the deficiency of such asset database
reduces the electricity supply reliability performance of the
company. In this regard, Geographical Information System
(GIS) is the most essential solution, in particular for the
congested regions of the city.
In addition, there is no computerized database that stores
asset information regarding the aging, maintenance, etc. The
records available at the regional offices and central office of
the company are personnel specific in general. That is, these
records are not processed and not included to a central
database for possible surveys in the future. This deficiency
impediments efficient capital project identification and
selection processes.
Taking into account these issues, a database in MS Access
format was formed and a user interface, which stores the
system data including peak loadings of transformers, supply
structure (single line diagram), asset details (aging,
manufacturer, substations type, cable cross-section, etc.), was
developed in the scope of the project. In addition, a digital
map that indicates geographical location of the substations
and feeder routes was developed utilizing ArcGIS software
which enables to interrogate the asset database through the
digital map. A snapshot taken from the developed software is
given in Fig 2.
Fig. 2. Snapshot from the software developed by TÜBİTAK-UZAY
C. Demand projection
Energy and peak demand projections were made
regionally based on the customer profile, historical data kept
by Boğaziçi EDC, and projections of the IMP and SPO. The
followings are among the most important figures taken into
account during demand projection phase:
 a) Load pattern to describe the load behavior (stable or
dynamic pattern, cyclic or seasonal or combination,
system peak time, load type, etc.).
b) Historical peak load to indicate annual and seasonal
growth, coincidence factor, etc.
c) Historical energy figures.
d) Major factors affecting the system peak including:
- Economic and demographic figures,
- Bulk loads to be connected to the network soon.
The regions, where load forecast (or demand projection)
studies to be performed, were selected as islands as illustrated
in Fig. 3. The islands were selected in a way such that the
total energy of the DTCs within the islands can be calculated
by the records of energymeters placed on the feeders
(avoiding any confusion due to ordinary operational
maneuvers). The islands in general correspond to the region
fed by DTCs of a loop designed radial operated MV feeder.
buildings. Moving is still in progress and expected to be
completed by the end of 2008.
Compared to industrial loads, the residential consumption
will be considerably less such that there will be a drastic
reduction in loadings of DTCs no: 1352 and 1038. On the
other hand, the other DTCs’ loadings have already reduced
due to loss of industrial loads that have already moved, and
loadings of those DTCs will expected to increase along with
the growth in residential buildings shortly. Demand forecast
of the region was performed considering these regional
specific developments. The results are summarized in Table
1.

Fig. 4. Industrial loads in Bakırköy District

Table. 1. Load forecast of the Bakırköy Region for 2010

Veliefendi Max. Max.
Installed
HV/MV Demand Demand % Increase
Capacity ...
Substation 2005 2010 in 5 Years
(kVA)
1164 Feeder (kVA) (kVA)
Fig.3. Partition criteria of the load forecast area
Dist. Tr. No
Furthermore, load forecasts of DTCs were also performed ... ... ... ... ... ...
taking into account the observations during on-site visits and 1352 1600 1310 ... 917 -30
1038 1600 1280 ... 960 -25
the interviews with the Boğaziçi EDC representatives. The
1344 1000 470 ... 705 50
DTC based demand projection results were compared with
1736 630 300 ... 510 70
the regional demand projection results iteratively. In case of a ... ... ... ... ... ...
conflict between the results, the corresponding forecast was Total 19740 11111 ... 11496.8 3.5
revised together with IMP and SPO representatives. Site
visits had to be repeated in some regions to clarify the
inconsistency between regional and DTC based demand Demand projection was performed for all substations based
projections. on the same approach. Some of the results are summarized in
The following example illustrates the importance of the Table 2. According to the demand projection results, the
DTC based demand projection which necessitates on-site annual increase in total demand of the city is around 7-7.5%
investigations. The DTCs fed from Veliefendi Substation (last raw of Table 2). On the other hand, according to the
through feeder no: 1164 in Bakırköy Region, a small region historical energy figures of the city, annual demand increase
depicted in Fig. 4, have been supplying industrial loads. has occurred around 8% for the last 15 years (excluding the
However, according to recent regulations declared by the major economical crisis and earthquake effects in 1999). In
municipality, these industrial loads were forced to move in this regard, the DTC based demand projection study gives the
order to relieve the region for the growth of residential regional details of the characteristic demand increase of the
city, enabling to determine both optimal investment decisions
at the distribution level as well as the optimal location for the equipped with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
new transmission substations. New HV/MV transmission (SCADA) system, which is integrated with a Feeder
substations proposed to be in service within next 5 years are Automation System (FAS) designed specifically to improve
shown in Fig 5. the reliability of electricity distribution system of
metropolitan Istanbul [4]. Master Plan solution proposed in
Table. 2. Transmission substation based demand projection the study considers this design criteria taking into account the
summary
expansion of the envisaged FAS integrated SCADA
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 application and constraints of the city.
Transmission Max Max Max Max Max Max
Substation Demand Demand Demand Demand Demand Demand When the ratings of the distribution transformers and load
(MVA) (MVA) (MVA) (MVA) (MVA) (MVA) forecast study results were compared, it was observed that the
... ... ... ... ... ... ... existing distribution transformers are not expected to be
ALTINTEPE 82 90.2 108.24 124.47 145.63 163.11
overloaded within next 5 years. Accordingly, there is no need
ETİLER 171 182.97 210.41 235.66 304.02 349.61 to upgrade the capacity of any distribution transformer
TAŞOLUK 55 66 77.88 88.78 97.66 105.47 meanwhile. On the other hand, the MV network capacity
TOPKAPI 160 166.4 171.39 183.53 162.43 167.43 should be enforced in order to mitigate overloadings during
YENİKAPI - - - - - 80.51 contingencies (due to fault) particularly at the 10.5kV system.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... Hence, the planning solution considers the upgrade of some
TOTAL MVA 4036 4326.56 4646.76 4972.14 5330.87 5708.41 10.5kV DTCs to 34.5kV level to relieve the distribution
Annual inc. (7.2%) (7.4%) (7%) (7.1%) (7.2%)
system. The followings are among the major system relieving
solutions proposed in the study.

A. Load sliding
The most practical and economical solution is to
disconnect one (or more) transformer(s) from the feeder
which overloads in case of a contingency, and connect it to a
more convenient feeder, as illustrated in Fig. 6. In the scope
of the project, totally 135 of the distribution transformers in
the metropolitan were proposed to switch to another feeder to
relieve their existing supply feeders.
For congested regions, demand increase will not be due to
new developing areas. Hence a distribution network in the
area already exists. Essentially, load sliding is a more
economical solution compared to others if such a solution is
feasible. Only cabling investments are required to realize the
solution. However there are cases where a convenient feeder
does not exist or cabling route is not allowed to be excavated
Fig. 5. HV/MV Transmission Substations (i. KAYABASI & YENIKAPI
by municipality.
ST are the proposed HV/MV transmission substations, ii. Dark
regions correspond to urban regions)

III. SOLUTIONS TO RELIEVE THE MV-NETWORK

The primary distribution feeder arrangement, as practiced Fig. 6. Feeder load sliding
in the large cities of Turkey, is based upon the simple open-
loop system where the feeder and loop components have B. Split of the feeder
sufficient reserve capacity to serve the load that may be
The second idea is to split the overloaded feeder into two
switched through loop switching (i.e. 50% loading). The
distinct feeders through the most convenient MV substation,
lower limit of the cable size is limited to 95 mm2 Cu because
as illustrated in Fig. 7. Only two of the feeders were proposed
the fault level chosen in the MV distribution systems is 16 kA
to be split due to the constraints of the network including
with the total fault clearing time of 1 sec at most. On the other
physical limitations of the substations (spacing constraints)
hand, as the load densities are high, voltage drop constraints
and too long cabling requirement.
are not critical and loading of cables is thermally limited [3].
Some of the critical feeders at the congested districts are

Fig. 7. Split of the feeder
C. Feeder installation
The most essential option is to install feeder(s) in order to
relieve the overloaded feeders by switching some of the
transformers that already supplied by the old feeder(s) to the
new feeder(s), as illustrated in Fig 8. The installation of
totally 41 feeders is proposed in the scope of the project
considering the constraints of DTCs (aging of assets, building
size, etc.).
Fig. 8. New feeder installation
A reliable medium voltage distribution system is the
backbone for a reliable and stable supply with electrical
energy. FASs are indispensable to provide reliability
particularly in metropolitan cities, like Istanbul, where the
distribution network is sophisticated due to heavily meshed
underground cable network with lateral branches to adjacent
loops. The considerable increase in supply performance
figures of Boğaziçi EDC after the installation of SCADA that
consists of a FAS verifies this fact.
In the scope of determining the most reasonable expansion
planning of the existing SCADA system, the electricity
interruption statistics of the distribution network were
surveyed and the share of planned (for maintenance) and
unplanned (due to system faults) outages were determined. In
metropolitan Istanbul, actually most of the interruptions are
due to the infrastructure works of the municipality in
particular during excavation processes (piping, street
maintenance, etc.). The main reason is the lagging of
infrastructure development behind the residential
improvement due to very high population increase rate.
Considering the crowdedness of the city and the traffic jam,
re-energization after faults on MV feeders can take up to one
hour in certain regions. After the privatization of the company
the interruptions will become more vital. A duration limit for
interruptions will be defined with a certain penalty in case of
limit violation.
In upgrading of 10.5kV DTCs to 34.5kV level, the
compact Ring Main Units (RMU) should be the only option
due to building space constraints as the 10.5kV transformer
stations are relatively smaller than regular 34.5kV substations
[3]. The FAS integrated SCADA that already designed for
Istanbul requires installment of RMUs as well. Consequently,
the utilization of RMUs in the upgraded DTCs will enable the
inclusion of SCADA application without additional
replacement cost in the near future. Therefore, all of the
DTCs to be upgraded to 34.5kV level are proposed to be
equipped with compact RMUs in order to be ready for the
expansion of SCADA. The priority of the regions to expand
the SCADA was also determined in the scope of the project.
The DTCs closer to the 34.5kV supply rings that already
involve SCADA application were determined and given the
priority.
D. Distributed generation (DG)
Distributed generation is a developing concept with many
applications. Indeed, the employment of DG could provide
several benefits to almost all entities of power systems.
Delaying or avoiding the need for above solutions, improving
the reliability by providing support to the local distribution
network, reducing operation costs, and providing clean
energy by renewable energy sources are among the attributes
of DG for utilization in power distribution systems. However
application of DG to the distribution network of Istanbul will
encounter various barriers even after the privatization of the
network. These barriers can be categorized as technical,
business practices, and regulatory barriers. Business practices
associate with contractual and procedural requirements for
system operation and market participation. Regulatory
barriers include matters of policy that usually fall within the
jurisdiction of state utility regulatory commissions (such as
FERC of USA). These barriers arise from or are governed by
statutes, policies, tariffs, and regulatory filings by utilities,
which are approved by the regulatory authority. Technical
challenges associated with the utilization of DG in
distribution systems can be divided into three categories: DG
interfaces with distribution systems, operation and control of
DG, and planning of DG utilization.
DG brings new challenges to the operation of distribution
system due to its radial topology. Utility requirements of the
DG utilization intend to address engineering compatibility of
DG with the grid and various operational requirements, which
include specifications for power quality, dispatch, safety,
reliability, metering, local distribution system, and control
issues. For example, DG units could inadvertently energize
part of the distribution or transmission system when that part
of the system is not supposed to be energized. This could
endanger utility personnel and the general public, and damage
utility or other customer equipment. DG units could cause
voltage flickers, harmonics, or other power quality problems
to nearby customers. Multiple DG units operating in parallel
could cause stability problems in adjacent power systems.
These concerns manifest themselves in numerous technical
requirements such as the need for utility-grade breakers,
dedicated isolation transformers, and feeder relay
coordination [4].
Given these technical barriers, BEDAS EDC decides to
keep the MV feeders as the passive termination of the
transmission network and allows the connection of DG to the
grid only at the MV side of the HV/MV substations through a
dedicated feeder. Nevertheless, the existing SCADA system
would respond the needs of an active distribution system with
some modifications.

IV. CONCLUSION

Master plan project performed for the Istanbul European

Side Electricity Distribution Network for the next 5 years
period is discussed. The project was carried out for the state-
owned Boğaziçi Electricity Distribution Company which is
expected to be privatized within the near future. Our planning
approach essentially concerns for the most economical and
reliable solutions avoiding comprehensive planning
alternatives that require high budged.
Distribution transformer based demand projections were
performed based on the measurements and observations
during on-site visits, and interviews with planning
departments of municipality. On-site visits were required due
to the lack of updated distribution system database and
dynamic characteristic of residential developments in the city,
as explained in the paper. A geographical information system
based software, which includes an asset database collected
during on-site visits to the transformer substations, was
developed. The software is open for further developments
such as addition of customer management system.
Transformer based demand projection study results enables to
determine not only optimal investment decisions to relieve
the medium voltage network but also the optimal size and
location of the new transmission substations, as discussed in
the paper. Further studies will include technical loss analysis
of the distribution network and reveal of the electricity theft
ratio in total consumption.

V. REFERENCES

[1] N. Ozay, A. N. Guven, A. Buyuksemerci, M. Fettahlioglu, “Design and

Implementation of a Feeder Automation System for Distribution
Networks,” IEEE Power Tech’99 Conference, Aug 1999.
[2] S. K. Khator and L. C. Leung, “Power distribution planning: A review
of models and issues,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 12, no. 3, pp.
1151–1159, Aug. 1997.
[3] N. Ozay, A. N. Guven, A. Buyuksemerci, M. Fettahlioglu, “Technical
and Economic Feasibility of Conversion to a Higher Voltage
Distribution”, Generation, Transmission and Distribution, IEE
Proceeding, Vol. 142, Issue 5, Sept. 1995 Page(s): 468 – 472.
[4] O. B. Tor and M. Shahidehpour, “Power Distribution Asset
Management” Proceedings of IEEE PES General Meeting, Montreal,
Canada, June 2006.

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