External Equivalent for Electric Power Distribution Networks With Radial Topology

This paper presents a method for evaluating external equivalent in electric distribution networks (EDN). The proposed method has as its main objectives the reduction of the computational costs in distribution network reconfiguration, investigation of the optimal allocation of banks of capacitors, investigation of the allocation of distributed generation, etc. In these sorts of problems, a large number of alternative projects must be assessed in order to identify the optimal solution. The optimal solution comes up with the voltage level in the load points within specified limits. Consequently, the EDN must retain the external network load points but without major increasing in the dimension of the equivalent circuit. The proposed method has been tested and validated in a substation of the Electricity Utility of Maranhao-CEMAR, in Brazil.