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Power flow analysis of Rafah governorate distribution network using ETAP

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Article  in  International Journal of Physical Sciences · June 2013

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 International Journal of Physical Sciences Vol. 1(2), pp. 019-026, June 2013
Available online at http://academeresearchjournals.org/journal/ijps
©2013 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Power flow analysis of Rafah governorate distribution

network using ETAP software
Nadia M. Mahdi
Electrical Engineering, Technical Administration, GEDCO Company, Gaza, Palestine.
E-mail: engineer_nadia@yahoo.com.
Accepted 29 May, 2013

The results of a load flow analysis can be used for operational purposes to evaluate various operating
states of an existing system. They can also be used in the planning stages to evaluate possible future
extension projects. This paper discusses the analysis of the power distribution network in Rafah
governorate by using ETAP software. The aim is to evaluate the technical status of the present medium
voltage network (22-kV). The problems and challenges faced by the existing network are analyzed.
Those problems include the power deficit, high power losses, poor voltage levels and feeders’
overloading. Then some solution techniques are suggested considering the system current state and
future growth for different scenarios for each problem to obtain a full understanding of the system
problems and solutions.

Key words: Distribution network, power flow analysis, ETAP.

INTRODUCTION

The power-flow analysis of a distribution feeder is similar
to that of an interconnected transmission system.
Typically, before starting the power-flow analysis, the
three-phase voltages at the substation and the complex
power of all of the loads and the load model must be
known. A load flow study determines the voltage, current,
power and reactive power in various points and branches
of the system under simulated conditions of normal
operation (William, 2002). Load flow studies are essential
in optimizing existing networks, ensuring an economical
and efficient distribution of loads, and plan future
networks (Jan de Kock and Kobus, 2004). The analysis
of a distribution feeder will typically consist of a study of
the feeder under normal steady-state operating
conditions. All of the approximate methods of modeling
assume perfectly balanced three-phase systems,
balanced three-phase loads, and perfectly transposed
three-phase line segments (William, 2002).
There are wide ranges of power system analysis
programs available in the world market that perform all
sorts of electrical analyses. They range from basic,
commercially packages to large, complex programs
developed for a specific customer (Jan de Kock and
Kobus, 2004). The software used in this paper is ETAP. It
is for the design, simulation, and analysis of generation,
transmission, and distribution power systems. For a
power distribution system, it is capable of calculating
balanced and unbalanced load-flow. This analysis
produces detailed reports of system losses, line flows,
and voltage at every node. The software is capable of
recommending optimum capacitor placement, and wire
size upgrades (Barn and Jewell, 2005). ETAP Load Flow
Analysis module calculates the bus voltages, branch
power factors, currents, and power flows throughout the
electrical system on both radial and loop systems (ETAP
7.0.0 User Manual, 2009).
As a power distribution system load grows, the system
power factor usually declines. Load growth and a
decrease in power factor leads to a number of
challenging problems such as: voltage regulation
problems, increased system losses, power factor
penalties and reduced system capacity (Holm et al.,
2010). The distribution network in Rafah experiences
many technical problems which need quick solutions. The
most pressing problems are high power losses and poor
voltage especially at the feeder ends. To face these
challenges, a power flow study for the distribution
network must be carried out to find the suitable technical
Mahdi 020
Figure 1. The main feeders of Rafah Governorate.
solutions. The main contribution of this paper is that it
evaluated the 22-kV network in Rafah and suggests the
suitable available technical solutions.
METHODOLOGY
First of all, the MV grid was analyzed using ETAP
software in a way such that all problems and deficiencies
are investigated clearly and then suitable solutions are
tested by simulation.
Description of the existing network
Rafah is a Palestinian city that is located in the south of
Gaza Strip on the border between Egypt and Palestine.
Rafah receives power through four feeders operating at
22 kV as shown in Figure 1 (Gaza Electricity Distribution
Corporation [GEDCO], 2010). Three of the feeders are
from Egypt and they enter Rafah from the southern side.
The first feeder has a maximum capacity of 5 MW. The
second feeder has a maximum capacity of 12 MW, and
it’s divided into two feeders. The fourth feeder enters
Rafah from its eastern side and is owned by the Israeli
Electric Company (IEC). All those feeders are governed
by Gaza Electric Distribution Corporation (GEDCO), the
unique electric distribution company in Gaza Strip. MV
distribution system is stepped down to 400-V at
distribution transformers. Then the power is distributed to
individual consumers via low voltage distribution
networks at 400-V. This network serves 22,038
customers which represent 12% of the total customers of
GEDCO in year 2011. The MV network falls into two
categories: overhead lines and underground cables.
It is fairly wide spread in Rafah that a total length of
about 68800 m feeding 133 of distribution transformers.
Moreover, the overhead lines cover about 93.8% of the
overall length of the network. This is because the
overhead network is much cheaper than the underground
network. Most of the 22-kV lines are constructed using
ACSR 150/25, ACSR 50/8 and ACSR 95/15 conductors.
It is important to know that all the previous mentioned
data of Rafah network and all work done in this paper
represent the network status till the end of 2011.
SIMULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Since all feeders in Rafah city are in radial configuration,
then each feeder can be analyzed separately. The four
feeders are simulated in separate projects. Their one-line
diagrams are drawn and their parameters are entered
into ETAP software. Then they are exploited in different
study cases to evaluate the performance of the grid. The
feeders are studied assuming balanced load-flow. For
each study case, the program produces detailed
accounts of system losses, line flows, and voltage at
every node or bus. These detailed reports are used to
investigate all problems and deficiencies of the grid.
Figure 2 depicts a part of the one-line diagram of the IEC
feeder.
The results of load flow module for all feeders are
divided into three parts: the first part of the results is
concerned with power demand and capacity issues, the
second is related to the system losses, while the third
part is for voltage magnitude and voltage drop at each
node on the feeders.
It is found that there is a deficit in the available power
by about 35%. Also the grid suffers from phase load
imbalance in the LV networks. The line current unbalance

Figure 2. One-line diagram of the 1st Egyptian Feeder.
rate is 7.4% in average to all feeders. Moreover, the
percentage voltage drop obtained by power flow solution
drops below 90% of the nominal voltage in the first one
third of the feeders’ length except the second Egyptian
feeder. The estimated cost of the resulted average
energy losses reaches 3.3 million NIS for MWH and 5
million NIS for MVAR in year 2011. It is observable that
the percentage of reactive power loss is approximately
about 1.6 times more than the active power loss and this
is due to the nature of the lines which normally have the
value of X/R larger than unity. In addition to these
problems, the existing grid has a poor lagging power
factor in all 22-kV feeders which stay in the range of 81 -
84%.
SOLUTION TECHNIQUES
After the presentation of all problems and deficiencies of
network, the study addresses and suggests solution
techniques for those problems.
Managing the growing power demand
In order to satisfy the ever increasing energy demand,
several actions have to be implemented. These actions
have to be carried out in parallel. Those actions include
the load balance and upgrading of the supplied power
Int. J. Phy. Sci. 021
according to the actual power demand. Also it is
important to predict the future growth of the power
demand to be taken into account in the upgrade and
planning of new projects. So the forecasted growth in the
power demand was evaluated for the coming ten years
from 2012 to 2022. The predicted data were evaluated by
excel “FORCAST” function which predicts the future
values along a linear trend by using the existing values
and they are shown in Figure 3. It is perfectly suitable
since the existing data have a linear behavior.
According to the power demand requirements, it is
found that the preferred solution to support the existing
load and the future demand growth is to install a new
substation in Rafah as an extension to the Egyptian high
voltage network. The Palestinian Authority of Energy and
Natural Resources in Gaza proposed a complete study of
a project to install two new substations in Gaza Strip, one
of them is intended to extend the Egyptian system and
rated at 220/22 kV. It will have two of three winding
power transformers rated at 60/75 MVA. This substation
will feed the southern part of Gaza Strip with the required
power demand.
Load balancing
A three-phase, four-wire distribution system has been
widely used to facilitate low voltage supply to single-
Mahdi 022

Figure 3. Growth of peak power demand in summer.

Figure 4. Power demand in balanced and unbalanced loads.

phase and three-phase loads. This mixed loading in the
secondary distribution system may result in serious
phase unbalance (Nikhil et al., 2011). By calculations, it is
found that the line current unbalance rate in average is
6.37% for the 1st Egyptian feeder, 9.99% for the 2nd
Egyptian feeder, 7.21% for the 3rd Egyptian feeder, and
5.76% for the IEC feeder. The line current unbalance rate
(LCUR) is calculated by equation (1) as shown thus:
It is noted that the current imbalance exceeds the
standard limit of LCUR which equals 3% at maximum.
Figure 4 indicates the capacity release which can be
obtained through balancing loads on the LV network.
The figure shows that the load balance can release
about 7% of the active and reactive powers.
Voltage improvement

Max line current deviation from average Voltage (1)

improvement is considered as power quality
LCUR%  100 issue and there are several techniques that can be used
Average line currents
(1) to improve the voltage profile of the feeders. The voltage
profile is enhanced by three techniques: raising the

Figure 5. Voltage profiles of the 1st Egyptian Feeder.
Figure 6. Voltage profiles of the 2nd Egyptian Feeder.
sending end voltage, changing the tap settings of the
distribution transformers, and the last method is
accomplished by installation of capacitor banks.
Approach 1: Raising the voltage at the feeder
sending-end
The most intuitive way in voltage improvement is to raise
the voltage at the sending end node. Even though the
voltage control is done only from the substations, this
method is implemented based upon request from
technical department of Rafah branch. Figures 5 to 7
show the improvement of the voltage profiles considering
both the peak and average loading cases.
Since the IEC feeder suffers more voltage drop than
Egyptian feeders due to higher loading and longer length,
it is raised to 23 kV as a suitable value for the feeder to
operate within the allowable range of voltage in peak and
off-peak loading. The effect of raising the sending-end
voltage is presented in Figure 8.
Int. J. Phy. Sci. 023
This improvement is achieved at the expense of higher
current and power demand, so this approach must be
applied carefully.
Approach 2: Adjustment of transformers’ tap setting
Another method that can be used to enhance the voltage
levels along the feeders in the LV side is to readjust the
transformers’ tap changer. The transformers’ tap changer
is on high tension side and can be stepped to +1×2.5% or
to -3×2.5%. Since the nominal value of the system is 22
kV, then each step can raise or lower the voltage rating
by 0.55 kV. The tap changer must be adjusted to suitable
settings to suit both light and heavy loading cases. The
1st Egyptian feeder is tested for this method in summer
loading case and the voltage profile along the LV nodes
is shown in Figure 9. The tap changers of all transformers
connected to LV nodes that experience voltage drop
below 90% of the nominal value are adjusted to -3×2.5%
position of their tap changers.
Mahdi 024

Figure 7. Voltage profiles of the 3rd Egyptian Feeder.

Figure 8. Improvement of voltage profile on IEC feeder.

Figure 9. Voltage profile variations by adjusting transformer’s tap-changer settings.

 Int. J. Phy. Sci. 025

Figure 10. Voltage improvement by capacitors’ placement.

Table 1. Capacitor banks and power carrying capability.

Capacity
Before adding capacitors After adding capacitors
release (MVA)
Average Loading 20.5 kV Sending Average Loading 20.5 kV
Sending Peak Avg.
MW Mvar end MW Mvar
end PF% MW Mvar MW Mvar Load Load
Loss Loss PF% Loss Loss
83.39 6.43 4.25 0.188 0.387 96.17 6.58 1.87 0.153 0.324 1.044 0.86

Approach 3: Installation of capacitor banks Distribution losses in a facility can be reduced by addition
of capacitors as clearly investigated by Equation (4)
Placement of capacitors has been considered mainly to (Osama and Ahmad, 2011):
enhance the line voltage levels above 90% of the nominal
voltage, power factor correction, and losses reduction.
Power factor correction permits additional loads to be   PF 2 
served by the existing system. In case if the transformers Loss reduction%  1-  initial   ×100
or cables get overloaded, improving the power factor will   PFfinal  
(4)
be the most economical way to reduce the current and
therefore eliminate overload condition. This can be
clearly investigated by Equations 2 and 3 (Osama and After installing the capacitor banks, the feeder was tested
Ahmad, 2011): for a combination of different operating scenarios
including under voltage of the sending end, overvoltage
PFinitial of the sending end both at minimum and maximum
S
Snew  PF
new PF
×S×S
initial loading cases. The load flow simulation indicates
(2) that the
old old
capacitors operate with its full rating without leading to (2)
PFfinal final (2) under voltage or overvoltage conditions and this is what
we are searching for. Figure 10 shows the enhancement
Snew
IInew  S new of the voltage profile after installing the capacitor
(3) banks
new 3V regarding different cases of the sending end voltage at (3)
3V the average loading condition.
(3)
 Mahdi 026

Not only that the voltage levels are improved, but also
the power factor at the sending end is increased from
83.39% to 96.17%. Another advantage is that the current
loading is decreased; hence the power losses are
decreased. Moreover, the increased power factor
increases the feeder capacity by capacity release which
lowers the consumed KWH annually. These improvement
results are displayed in Table 1.
The capacitors’ banks are highly costly, so the project
of capacitor placement needs an economic evaluation
study. The investment cost of this project must be
considerable in comparison to profit obtained in the near
future. It is seen that the payback period is 4 years and in
the fifth year, the pure profit starts assuming that the
energy price is fixed at 0.28 NIS for 1 KWH and summer
loading.
Conclusion
Power flow analysis is an essential step for operational
purposes to evaluate various operating states of an
existing system. Also it is necessary for enhancement
and development projects. By using ETAP load flow
program, it is found that the MV network in Rafah
experiences many technical problems including: deficit in
the available power, poor power factor, low voltage levels
and power losses. Based on the obtained results, some
technical solutions are suggested to help in the network
improvement. The solutions are tested by simulation. The
proposed solutions were suggested considering the
financial investment cost and profits such that the
solutions are acceptable from the economic view. ETAP
shows powerful functionalities in load flow analysis field.
Thus it is strongly recommended to be available for
usage in the technical administration of GEDCO.
REFERENCES
Barn L, Jewell W (2005). Review: power system analysis
software tools. IEEE.
ETAP 7.0.0 User Manual (2009).
Jan de K, Kobus S (2004). Power Distribution for
Industry. IDC Technologies., p. 151.
Nikhil G, Anil S, Niazi KR (2011). A Novel Strategy for
Phase Balancing in Three-Phase Four-Wire Distribution
Systems. IEEE.
Osama A, Ahmad KA (2011). Impact of Power Factor
Correction on the Electrical Distribution Network of
Kuwait – A Case Study. Online Journal on Power and
Energy Engineering (OJPEE), 2: 1.
Holm RMU, Chopade PV, Prornod J (2010). Optimal
Placement of Capacitor for Power Loss Reduction
Using ETAP Software. ICSES' 10 International
Conference on Science. Engineering & Spirituality.
Studies and Documentation Branch in Technical
Administration of Gaza Electricity Distribution
Corporation GEDCO (2010).
William HK (2002). Distribution System Modeling and
Analysis. CRC Press LLC, 39: 269.

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