Low Voltage Network Solutions
Plenary session A – Monitoring Networks
Dan Randles
Quality of Supply and Technical Manager/LCNF Tier 1 Manager
Aims and Objectives
Aim to improve understanding of existing and future
characteristics of Electricity Northwest’s Low Voltage
(LV) networks and to aid development of future policy
and practice
Three key themes of the project
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LV Network Monitoring
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LV Network Modelling
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LV Network Solutions
3 year project started in April 2011 costing £1.5M
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Network Monitoring
Scope of the deployment
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•
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200 x 11kV or 6.6kV to 415V
distribution substations
Over 1000 LV feeders
Sites comprise indoor and
outdoor, mostly ground
mounted with small number
of pole mounted
transformers
UoM
DB
Offline
data
transfer
ENW
iHost
GPRS/3G
Private APN
Metrology and
Communications
(V, I, Q, P, H,
Temp)
Analogues to be captured
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•
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RMS voltages and currents
Real and reactive power
3ø + neutral
Temperature (Ambient, Tx)
Real-time (1 minute
averages!)
Harmonics (not real time)
2
Data Flow
3
Installations (1)
4
Installations (2)
5
Installations (3)
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Feeder mid-point and end-point
Low Voltage Smart joint takes monitoring beyond
the substation
Utilises the Gridkey ‘grid hound’ current sensor
3-phase service cable used for phase voltages
(IPCs)
Gridkey metrology and communication unit to be
mounted at street level with separate
communications channel to iHOST
Metrology
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Demand characteristics
1 minute resolution provides interesting
insights …
… now we just need to understand
what it means …
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Lessons learnt
Installation resources
IT and system integration issues
Customer impact must be minimised
True partnering approach with all project stakeholders
Flexible solutions needed owing to on-site variations
Site surveys essential to avoid problems
Installation quality including anti tamper/vandal
Large volumes of data being generated which needs
managing – requires new tools/systems
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Network Modelling
Extract
Conductor
Information
Topology
Information
MPAN
Information
Reconnection
Model
Relationship
MPAN-Profile
Class
OpenDSS
Representation
Profiles Class
(half hourly
profile)
From GIS
Automatic Process
Validate
Power Flow
Simulation
From other
Database
Analyse
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Networks solutions
Its about specifications, standards, policies and practices;
understanding how these ought to evolve
The adoption at scale of low carbon technologies will have a
significant impact on LV networks
•
Voltage rise/drop
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Congestion/overload of assets
Monitoring is key to firstly understanding the capabilities of LV
networks both now and in the future and secondly facilitating smart
operation
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Trade-off between visibility and cost
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Sampling rates should be appropriate
Appears likely that active means of controlling voltages and loadings
in LV networks will be implemented in the future
•
Significant change in operation and planning procedures for DNOs
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Thank you
Any questions…?
Key contact names
Dan Randles (Electricity Northwest)
Paul Beck/Oliver Burstall (Gridkey)
Julian Brown/Simon Hodgson (Nortech)
Dr Luis Ochoa (UoM)
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