Investigation of solutions to the problem of voltage sags in electric energy distribution systems

Voltage sags have become a growing concern to the electric power utilities and customers. This concern is mainly related to the increasing application of electronic devices connected to the electric power grid. Voltage sags are a physical phenomenon of random nature, inherent in the electric system because of its length and the vulnerability of the overhead lines from transmission and distribution systems. In this context, electric utilities have been facing growing complaints about voltage sags. Therefore, this work aims to investigate related problems and to analyze possible solutions in a real electricity distribution feeder that is connected to a substation suppling 14 feeders. The software OpenDSS is used to simulate the system and to obtain the results for different types of faults. Furthermore, the solutions, such as the application of reactors, batteries or distribution static compensators are modeled in this software to analyze the respective efficiency, viability and unviability.