Conservation Voltage Reduction and Volt-VAR Optimization: Measurement and Verification Benchmarking

The ongoing efforts in grid modernization, which is accompanied by upgrading distribution grids through employment of advanced distribution grid technologies, further provide the necessary tools to employ Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) and Volt-VAR Optimization (VVO) programs and ensure that the system is operating continuously at an optimized voltage. This paper provides an overview of CVR/VVO deployments by several electric utilities within the U.S. The paper looks at three major areas: (i) type of the initiative, including pilot, plan, program, study, and test case; (ii) year(s) of the application; and (iii) methodology used for CVR factor assessment. When available, a more detailed discussion on the initiative is provided. Based on the studied cases, it is concluded that majority of utilities use either a regression-based or a comparison-based method. The day-on/day-off approach is common within both methods in which CVR is applied every other day to generate CVR-on and CVR-off data that can be used for comparison and model fitting.