IMPROVEMENT OF POWER DELIVERY EFFICIENCY
OF DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS THROUGH LOSS REDUCTION
M.H. Haque, Senior Member, IEEE
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue. Singapore
Abstract: The I Z R loss can be decomposed into two components
based on the active and reactive parts of current. This paper first
minimizes the loss associated with the adive part of branch
currents in a distribution system by reconfiguring the network. The
loss associated with the reactive part of branch currents is then
minimizes by placing optimal capacitors to the reconfigured
network. The method is very simple to apply and requires only the
load flow solutions of the network. The proposed method of loss
reduction, and hence the improvement of power delivery
efficiency, was tested on a 12.66 kV, 32-bus distribution system.
The results of the system for varidus load levels were also
presented.
Keywords: Power distribution, losses.
I. INTRODUCTION
The 1 2 R loss in a distribution system is significantly high
compared to that of a transmission system. The pressure of
improving the power delivery efficiency has forced the
power utilities to reduce the 1 2 R loss, especially at the
distribution level.
In general, a distribution system is feed at only one point
and the structure of the network is mainly radial for better
protection coordination. However, most of the medium
voltage distribution systems possess open tie l i e s (branches
with open switch at both ends). The tie lines are usually
added to the system to balance load, minimize loss and
improve supply reliability. When a tie line is added to the
system, a loop or mesh is created. However, a new radial
structure of the system can be obtained by removing one of
the branches of the loop. The process of adding a tie l i e and
removing a branch is called the branch exchange process.
There are several methods reported in the literature [I-51 to
reduce the overall I R loss by reconfiguring the network or
exchanging branches.
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Alternatively, the 1 2 R loss can be reduced by installing
shunt capacitors to supply part of the reactive power demand
locally. Various techniques of determining the optimal size
and location of capacitors to be installed in the system to
achieved the highest possible loss saving is described in [6-
IO].
The 1 2 R loss in a distribution system can be separated
into two components based on the active and reactive parts
of branch currents. For a single source network, the active
power demand must be supplied by the source at the feeding
point. Thus the loss associated with the active part of branch
currents, and hence active power flow, can only be
minimized by rerouting the power flow through branches
having lower resistance. On the other hand, it is not
necessary to supply the reactive power demand, and hence
the reactive part of branch currents, by the source. In fact,
the reactive power can be generated in the system by adding
shunt capacitors. Thus the loss associated with the reactive
part of branch currents can only be minimized by reducing
the reactive power flow through the branches. Note that, for
a given load conditions, the two components of 1 2 R loss
are not coupled and thus can be minimized independently.
However, most of the previous works minimize the total
I Z R loss, but not its individual component, either by
reconfiguring the network or placing optimal capacitors.
This paper decomposes the total I Z R loss into two
components and minimizes each component separately. The
loss associated with the active part of branch currents is first
minimizes by reconfiguring the network. Optimal capacitors
are then placed in the reconfigured network to further reduce
the loss associated with the reactive part of branch currents.
The proposed method was tested on a 12.66 kV, 32-bus
distribution system and very interesting results were found.
11. SYSTEM LOSS
The total I' R loss (P') of a distribution system consisting
of n branches can be written as
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Here I, = (Ia, + j I i ) is the complex current and RI is the
resistance of the i-th branch. The branch currents can be
obtained from the load flow solutions. The load flow
method described in [l 11 is used for this purpose. The total
12R loss can be separated into components (Ph and Pb)
based on the active (I,) and reactive (Ir) parts of branch
currents. The loss components can be written as
Here Ph and Ph are the loss associated with the active and
reactive parts of branch currents, respectively. The
procedures of minimiziig Ph and Pr,are described in the
following.
A. Loss Reduction by Network Reconfiguration
In this paper, Ph is first minimizes by rerouting the active
power flow through reconfiguring the network. Consider a
radial distribution system with several feeders and open tie
lines. Fig. 1 shows a typical single line diagram of such a
system. This system has a main feeder, three sub-feeders
and five open tie lines. The tie lines are shown by dotted
lines on the diagram. The objective is to fmd a new radial
configuration of the network so that the loss associated with
the active part of branch currents has the minimum value
while supplying the demand in full.
Consider an open tie h e is added to the network between
t k o feeders at buses P and Q. Let x be the bus at which the
22 23
0 1 2 I 3 4 5 16
..........
18 19 20
Fig 1 Single lime diagram of a 32-bus radial distribution system
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above two feeders meet at upstream (towards the source).
Note that when an open tie line is added to a radial network,
it always creates a mesh or loop. The loop consists of two
sets of branches U (between buses P and x ) and Q (between
buses Q and x), and the tie line. However, a new radial
configuration of the network can be obtained by removing
one of the branches of the loop. In Fig. 1, the tie line 11-21
is connected between two feeders at buses 11 (=P)and 21
(=e). These two feeders meet or join together at bus 1 (=x).
Thus the branch set a consists of branches 10-11, 9-10, 8-9,
7-8,6-7, 5-6,4-5,3-4,2-3 and 1-2 (between buses P and x )
and set p consists of branches 20-21, 19-20, 18-19 and 1-18
(between buses Q and x). The loss associated with the
active part of current of branch sets a and p in the original
radial network (before adding the tie line) can be written as
(3)
Addition of the tie line forms a closed loop consisting of
branch sets a and p, and the tie line. When one of the
branches (say branch k) of the loop is removed to get a new
radial structure, it chapges the current distribution of only
those branches that constitute the loop. The current of other
branches is unaffected by the addition of the tie line and
removal of branch k. When one of the branches of one of
the sets (U or p) is removed, the active part of current of all
branches of that set decreases while it increases for the other
set. The new value of active part of current (I,") of the
affected branches can be written as
24
.............................................
7 8 i 9 10 11 12 13 i14 15 16 i17
.. 1 .. ...
i -
...................
21
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 The active current in the tie line is the same as the active
current of the removed branch k because the power of all
downstream buses of branch k of the feeder is now to be
supplied by the other feeder through the tie line. Thus
z:t ‘Iuk (7)
The new loss associated with the active part of current in
branch sets a and p, and the tie line of the newly
reconfigured system can be written as
(8)
Here Rt is the resistance of the tie line. Thus the loss saving
achieved by the above branch exchange process (addition of
a tie line and removal of a branch) is the difference between
(4) and (8) and is given by
S,=PL-PL (9)
When a tie line is added, the branch to be removed to
maintain the radial structure is to be selected very carefidly
so that the maximum loss saving can also be realized. This
involves repetitive calculations of (9) for all branches of the
loop. The branch removal process can be started either at
bus P or Q and proceed in backward direction (towards bus
x ) until the loss P;b .of (8) continues to decrease. The
branch removal process can be stopped when it is found that
the loss started to increase after reaching the minimum
value. Identification of branch k, for the maximum loss
saving, is described in details with numeral results in
Section 111.
B.Loss Reduction by Capacitor Placement
Unlike the active power demand, the reactive power demand
of the system is not necessarily to be supplied by the source
at feeding point. In fact, the reactive power can be generated
in the system by adding shunt capatitors. As mentioned
earlier that the power loss associated with the reactive part
of branch currents can be minimized by reducing the
reactive power flow through the branches. Thus the best
way of reducing this component of loss is by supplying all
reactive power demands by the local capacitors. This may
not be economically feasible because it may need a large
number of variable capacitors, In practice, the capacitors are
placed only at few selected buses. The procedure of fmding
the optimal capacitor size and location is given in [lo] and
briefly described in the following.
Consider a capacitor C is placed at bus h in a radial
distribution system and it draws a reactive current of I,. Let
y be a set of branches between the source bus and the
capacitor bus. Note that for a radial network, the capacitor
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changes the reactive part of current of only branch set y. The
current of other branches is unaffected by the capacitor. The
new value of reactive current ( I : ) of branch set y, with
capacitor C, can be written as
;z =(Z,+Ic);kEy (10)
Here Zrk is the reactive current of the k-th branch before the
addition of the capacitor C. Thus the loss saving achieved by
the capacitor is the difference between the losses in branch
set y with the original and new values of reactive currents,
and is given by
sLr = -CG;rRk (1 1)
kV kw
The size of the capacitor that provides the highest loss
saving can be determined by maximizing (1 1) with respect
to the capacitor current I,. Once the capacitor current is
known, the optimal capacitor size at bus h can be
determined from
Qh = vhzc (12)
The procedure of determining the optimal capacitor size for
both singly located capacitor and multiple capacitors is
described in [lo]. The ratio of loss saving to capacitor size
(UQ)is an indication of the benefit-to-cost ratio of capacitor
placement process. To achieve the maximum benefit, the
bus that has the highest UQ ratio is selected frst to install
the capacitor.
111. SIMULATIONRESULTS
The proposed method of improving the power delivery
efficiency of a distribution system through reduction of 12R
loss was tested on a 12.66 kV, 32-bus system. The single
line diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 1 and data of the
system are obtained fkom [2]. The system has a load of
(4715+j2300) kVA. For this load condition, the total Z2R
loss of the system is 369.3 kW. The loss associated with the
active and reactive parts of branch currents is found to be
293.9 kW and 75.4 kW,respectively. In practice, the system
load is not constant but time variant. To incorporate the
time variant load in a systematic manner, the annual load
duration curve of the system is approximated by a piece-
wise linear function during which the load level is
considered to be constant [8,9]. The load duration data of the
system used in this study is given in Table 1.
Table 1
Load duration data of the system
I -Load multidier factor I Load duration in hours 1
I
SI I S2 I S3 I S4 I T.1 I T2 I T3 I T4
1.25 [ 1.00 [ 0.75 10.25 I 1000 I3380 I3380 [ 1000
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 The loss associated with the active part of branch currents ratio of all buses of the system for load level S2.It can be
is first minimizes by reconfiguring the network for all load noticed in Figure 3 that bus 30 has the highest 5YQ ratio of
levels. Detail results for only load level S2are presented 3.06 and thus considered to be compensated fmt to get the
here. As mentioned earlier that when a tie line is added to highest benefit. When bus 30 was compensated, the UQ
the system it creates a loop and one of the branches of the ratio of all buses is recalculated to find the location of the
loop is to be removed to preserve the radial structure. The second capacitor. It was found that bus 31 need to be
main task here is to search for the branch in the loop that
provides the maximum saving when it is removed. Table 2
Table 2
shows the loss P& of (8) when one of the branches of the Loss associated with active cumnt when one of the branches
loop is removed following the addition of tie line 11-21.It of the loop is removed following the addition of tie line 11-21.
can be noticed in Table 2 that the removal of the first branch
(10-11)of set a provides a loss of 147.8 kW. On the other
hand, removal of the fmt branch (20-21)of set p provides a Removed Loss I Removed I Loss
loss of 207.4 kW, which is higher than the corresponding branch, k (kw) branch, k (kw)
value found for the first branch of set a.Thus the search for 10-11 147.8 20-21 207.4
the candidate branch is to be continued in set a but not in p. 9-10 145.6 19-20 220.0
It can also be noticed in Table 2 that the loss first decreases 8-9 143.1 18-19 233.7
and reaches the minimum value of 138.6kW for branch 6-7. 7-8 141.1 1-18 248.5
Removal of the next branch 5-6increases the loss to 142.0 6-7 138.6
kW. The branch removal process can be stopped at this 5-6 142.0
point because the removal of subsequent branches will 4-5 525.5
fiuther increase the loss. Thus when the tie 11-21 is added, 3-4 545.6
branch 6-7is to be removed to have the m i n i u m loss as 2-3 586.8
well as to preserve the radial structure of the system. The 1-2 1017.3 I I I

above process (addition of a tie line and removal of a

branch) is to be repeated for all tie lines in the system to
identi@ the one that can be added fmt to get the highest Table 3
Results of branch exchange process for load level SZ
possible loss saving. Once the above branch exchange
operation is performed, the process can be repeated to look
for the next pair of branches to be exchanged until it is Add Remove Total system Total loss
found that no further loss saving is possible. A summary of tie line branch loss, kW saving, kW
results of branch exchange process, for load level S3, is 11-21 6-7 285.8 83.5
given in Table 3. 24-28 27-28 269.1 100.2
7-20 10-11 257.1 112.2
It can be observed in Table 3 that a total saving of 13 1 .O 17-32 30-31 244.7 124.6
kW can be achieved by exchanging six pairs of branches. 8-14 13-14 241.4 127.9
Reference [2] studied the same system and found the 10-11 8-9 238.3 131.0
maximum saving of 118 kW and 125 kW by using two
different techniques. However, the proposed method
provides at least 6 kW of more loss saving. The energy Table4
saving achieved by reconfiguring the network, for all load Energy saving achieved by network reconfiguration
levels, is given in Table 4.
Load Lossinthe Lossinthe Energy
It can be noticed in Table 4 that the system has the level original reconfigured saving
highest loss saving of 386.3 kW for the load level SI(peak system, kW system, kW MWh
load condition) but the maximum energy saving of 442.8 SI 616.2 386.3 229.9
MWh occurred for load level S2because of relatively longer Sl 369.3 238.3 442.8
duration. The annual energy saving of the system is found to s
3 195.8 129.5 224.1
be 923.6 Mwh. It may be mentioned here that the final s4 82.5 55.7 26.8
configuration of the network for all load levels is found to
be the same and may be considered as the optimal
configuration. The optimal configuration of the network is compensated next because the S/Q ratio of the bus has the
shown in Fig. 2. highest value of 2.71. Similarly, the location of the third
Capacitors are then placed in the optimally reconfigured capacitor was found at bus 13 with a maximum UQ ratio of
system of Fig. 2 to further reduce the loss associated with only 1.12. It is considered that the installation of the third
capacitor may not be very cost effective because of
the reactive part of branch currents. Fig. 3 shows the UQ

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 22 23 24

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
- i
I L
c
L-

I
F

i I

relatively lower value of 2YQ ratio. The sizes of the optimal
capacitor at buses 30 and 31 are then detennined
simultaneously by the technique described in [IO] and the
values are found to be 870 kVA and 350 kVA, respectively.
When the buses 30 and 31 of the reconfigured system are
compensated by the above capacitors, the loss Pb associated
with the reactive part of branch currents is reduced from
47.9 kW to 10.5 kW.
process not only reduce the system loss but also improve the
system voltage profile and reduce the rating of substations
equipment, especially at feeding node. For the peak load
condition (load level S,) the complex power at the feeding
node (bus 0) is reduced from (6509.9+j3288.1) kVA to
(6215.7+j1619.6) kVA when both the network
reconfiguration and capacitor placement techniques are
applied.

In practice, the size of the capacitor is discrete in value

and may not be the same as the optimal value. In this study,
it is assumed that the actual capacitor is discrete in size in
the form of a bank and the rating of each capacitor bank is
considered as 150 LVA. When the bus 30 is compensated by
6 capacitor banks (900kVA instead of 870 kVA) and bus 3 1
by 2 capacitor banks (300 kVA instead of 350 kVA), the
total system loss is reduced from 238.3 kW to 200.1 kW. 25
Thus an average saving of 4.8 kW can be realized h m each 0
capacitor bank. It is worth mentioning here that addition of p 2
capacitor banks slightly improves the system voltage profile. 2
In fact, the minimum voltage of the system is increased fiom g1.5
v)
0.923 pu to 0.943 pu. Because of the higher voltage profile,
the loss PLOalso slightly reduces for the constant power load 1
model. A summary of results of loss reduction achieved by
placing capacitor banks in the reconfigured network, for 0.5
various load levels, is given in Table 5
0
It can be observed in Table 5 that by installing 10
switch& capacitors (7 at bus 30 and 3 at bus 3 1) of each 150
kVA, an annual energy saving of 269.2 MWh can be
achieved. The annual energy saving found by both network
reconfiguration and capacitor placement is 1192.8 MWh.
Fig. 3 VQ ratio of all buses of the reconfiguredsystem
The network reconfiguration and capacitor placement

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 Baran, ME., and Wu,F.F., “Network reconfiguration in distribution
Table 5 systems for loss reduction and load balancing‘, IEEE Trans. on
Summary of loss reduction by discrete capacitor banks Power Delivery, Vol. 4, No. 2,1989, pp. 1401-1407.
Chian& H.D., and Jean-Jumeau, R, ”Optimal network
Load Lossinthe C-bank Loss Energy reconfigurations in distribution systems: Part 2: solution algorithm
and numerical results”, IEEE Trans.on Power Delivery, Vol. 5. No.
level reconfigured at bus saving saving 3,1990, pp. 1568-1574.
system, kW 30 (3 1) kW- MWh
Wagner, T.P. Chikhani. A.Y. and Hockman, R.. ”Feeder
SI 386.3 7 (3) 64.4 64.4 reconfiguration for loss reduction: an application of distribution
s2 238.3 6(2j 38.2 129.1 automation”, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 6. No. 4. 1991,
s3 129.5 4(2) 19.9 67.3 pp. 1922-1933.
s4 55.7 3 (1) 8.4 8.4 Goswami, S.K. and Basu. S.K., “A new algorithm for the
reconfiguration of distribution feeders for loss minimization”, IEEE
Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 7, No. 3,1992, pp. 1484-1491.
Sharaf, A.M. and Ibrahim, S.T., “Optimal capacitor placement in
distribution networks”, Electric Power Systems Research, Vol. 37.
IV. CONCLUSIONS 1996, pp. 181-187.
Abdel-Salam, T.S., Chikhani, A.Y. and Hackam, R, “A new
The techniques of minimizing the components of Z*R loss technique for loss reduction using compensating capacitors applied
to distribution systems with varying load condition”, IEEE Trans. of
in a single source radial distribution system is described in Power Delivery, Vol. 9, No.2,1994, pp. 819-827.
this paper. Unlike the previous approaches, the proposed
Chiang, H.D., Wang, J.C., Cockings. 0.and Shin, H.D.,“Optimal
method fmt reconfigured the network to minimize the loss capacitor placement in distribution systems: Part 1 and 2”, IEEE
associated with only the active part of branch currents. Once Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1990. pp. 634649.
the optimal configuration of the network is found, capacitors
Sundhararajan, S. and Pahwa, A., “Optimal selection of capacitors
are then placed to firher reduce the loss associated with the for radial distribution systems using Genetic algorithm”, IEEE Trans.
reactive part of branch currents. The proposed method of on Power Systems, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1994, pp. 1499-1507.
loss minimization is very simple and straightforward,and it Haque, M.H., ”Capacitor placement in radial distribution systems for
requires only the load flow solutions to reconfigure the loss reduction”, IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 146, No. 5,
network and to fmd the size and location of the optimal 1999.
capacitors. Haque, M.H., “Effkient load flow method for distribution systems
with radial or mesh configuration”, IEE Pm.-Gener. Transm.
The proposed method was tested on a 12.66 kV, 32-bus Distrib., Vol. 143. No. 1, 1996, pp. 33-38.
distribution system. The load duration curve of the system is
approximated by piece-wise linear hnctions and the loss
minimization techniques are applied to each linear section of VI. BIOGRAPHY
the load duration curve. It was found that higher loss saving Mohammed Hamidul Haque (S’ 1984, M
can be achieved when the network is reconfigured to 1989, SM 1993) was born in Dinajpur,
minimize the loss associated with the active part of branch Bangladesh on Febnrary 16,1956. He rcccived
currents rather than the overall currents, Simulation results the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical and
Electronic Engineering h m Bangladesh
indicated that an annual energy saving of 1192.8 MWh can University of Engineering and Technology
be realized by reconfiguring the network and installing 10 (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1980 and 1983,
switched capacitors of 150 kVA each. Reduction of system respectively, and the Ph.D. d e g m in Electrical
loss not only increases the power delivery efficiency but Engineering h m King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran.
also improves the voltage profile of the system. Because of Saudi Arabia in 1988. He served the Dept of
lower loss, a significant release of substation equipment EEE, BUET as Lecturer for four years. He
ratings, especially at the feeding node, can also be realized. joined the Dept of EE, KFUPM as Lecturer in
1984. He was promoted to an A s s i i t
Professor in 1989 and an Associate Professor in 1993 at KFUPM. He
served the School of EE, University of South Australia Australia as
V. REFERENCES Lecturtrfienior Lecturer for three years and the School of EEE, The
Flinders University of South Australia, Australia for a year. Cumntly he is
[l] Sirmohammadi, D., and Hong, H.W., “Reconfiguration of electric an Associate Professor in the School of EEE, Nanyang Technological
distribution networks for resistive line loss reduction”, IEEE Trans. University, Singapore.
on Power Delivery, Vol. 4, No. 2,1989, pp. 1492-1498.
Dr. Haque’s main fields of interest are power system steady state and
dynamic analyses, voltage stability and FACTS devices. Dr. Haque is a
Senior Membcr of IEEE and IEAust and a Fellow of IE, Bangladesh.

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