Creating electrical distribution boundaries using computational geometry

This paper outlines a method to define polygons that approximate the boundaries of electrical distribution operational areas (e.g., feeder boundaries). This method involves: 1) deriving the two-dimensional Voronoi diagram for the locations of distribution facilities (e.g., distribution transformer locations); 2) marking the Voronoi edges that adjoin different feeders; and 3) traversing the marked edges-always keeping the feeder of interest to the left. The resulting boundaries are an extremely useful adjunct to an electric utility's geographic information system, providing facility managers with a way to query operational and financial statistics at a level of detail (e.g., by substation, feeder, feeder section, etc.) that would be otherwise impractical or even impossible.