Mitigation of Technical Losses in Ghanaas Transmission Network using Optimal Capacitor Bank Allocation Technique
The transmission of electrical power is an essential stage in the delivery of electricity to end users, in that; it serves as the link between the generating stations and the final consumers. However, a significant amount of the generated power is lost in the transmission process. These losses often result in reduced transmitted power, increased operational costs and subsequent penalties in the tune of millions of Cedis, which is paid monthly to these generating stations by Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo). This paper therefore investigated the causes of these high transmission technical losses being experienced on the GRIDCo network. We used literature survey and field interactions with GridCo Engineers to validate our conclusions. The Power System Simulation for Engineering (PSS/E) software package was used to simulate the entire grid to identify areas on the grid violating system pre-set parameters and hence, contributing to the technical losses on the network. Results from the simulations conducted showed that, most areas in the northern network section of the grid were experiencing low voltages, which were in violation of system parameters. Subsequently, Reactive Power – Voltage (QV) curve analysis and optimal capacitor allocation technique was implemented for critical buses in these areas to determine the ideal amount of compensation needed to be installed at these buses. Voltage profiles in the critical areas improved immensely, after the needed compensation was injected. This also reduced the losses being experienced on the grid network tremendously. It is therefore recommended that, studies on reactive power requirement, optimal capacitor allocation techniques as well as distributed generation (DG) technologies, be deployed to reduce the network system losses as well as improve the network system voltage profiles. Another option would be replacing the radial scheme in the northern network section with ring within rings main scheme or interconnected sch
