Benefit of Distributed Generation: A Line Loss Reduction Analysis

The impending deregulated environment facing the electric utilities in the twenty first century is both a challenge and an opportunity for a variety of technologies and operating scenarios. The need to provide acceptable power quality and reliability will create a very favorable climate for the entry of distributed resources and innovative operating practices. Of all the different parts of an electric power system, customers identify closely with the distribution subsystem due to its proximity and visibility on a daily basis. Several recent developments have encouraged the entry of power generation and energy storage at the distribution level. Distributed resources (DR) is a term that encompasses both distributed generation (DG) and distributed energy storage (DS). A distributed utility will use both distributed resources and load management to achieve its goal. In addition, several compact distributed generation technologies are fast becoming economically viable. Integration of DG into an existing utility can result in several benefits. These benefits include line loss reduction, reduced environmental impacts, peak shaving, increased overall energy efficiency, relieved transmission and distribution congestion, voltage support, and deferred investments to upgrade existing generation, transmission, and distribution systems. Benefits are not limited to utility. Customers also benefit from DG in term of better quality of supply at lower cost. Among the many benefits of distributed generation is a reduced line loss. The purpose of this paper is to quantify this benefit for the simple case of a radial distribution feeder with concentrated load and distributed generator. With the introduction of DG, line loss reduction can be expected. The analysis is presented for varying locations of the distributed generator along the feeder and for varying output capacities. The results are presented in graphical form in terms of clearly-defined normalized parameters