DETERMINATION OF POWER LOSSES AND ANALYSIS OF NSUKKA 33KV POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Power losses in distribution systems have been a big disadvantage to both the distribution company and to the consumers who always pay more than they consume. The aim of this research is to provide a technique of minimizing power losses in 33kV distribution network at Nsukka. In a distribution network, power losses can be classified as either technical or non-technical. Only technical losses are of interest in this report. Energy dissipated in conductors, transmission line equipment, transformers, sub-transmission lines, distribution lines, and magnetic losses in transformers are the main causes of technical losses. Characterizing the current 33kV distribution system at Nsukka was the first step in resolving the aforementioned issue. This was carried out in order to prove that power losses in the 33kV distribution network do occur and to identify the root cause of those losses. In order to effectively carry out this operation, a SIMULINK model of the distribution network was developed. The results of Characterization shows that Feeders 2 has power loss of 3.2% , Feeders 3 has power loss of 4.2%, Feeders 6 has power loss of 2.9% and Feeders 8 has power loss of 1,1%. The next thing done was to develop an algorithm for particle swarm optimization that can minimize the losses in the distribution systems. The developed algorithm was integrated into the developed Simulink Model. A Matlab program was written while Simulink environment in Matlab aided the simulation processes. The results obtained based on the performance of particle swarm optimization for minimizing power losses in distribution network were compared to the results obtained from Conventional systems. From the Values obtained, in feeder 2 the conventional Power loss was 16% while that of Particle swarm optimization Power loss was 15.285%, in feeder 3 conventional Power loss was 21% while that of Particle swarm optimization Power loss was 20.065%, in feeder 6, conventional Power loss was 14.5% while that of Particle swarm optimization Power loss was 13.855% and in feeder 8, conventional Power loss was 5.5% while that of Particle swarm optimization Power loss was 5.255%. The above results show that the use of Particle swarm optimization has reduced the quantity of power loss in 33kV distribution network.