Analysis of interconnection operation of a radial feeder with a cogeneration plant

In order to sell surplus power or buy back-up power from a utility, a cogeneration plant of a customer needs be connected to a utility network. This connection may significantly affect the inherent operation characteristics of the utility system connected. In this paper a typical three-phase four-wire radial distribution feeder consists with a small cogeneration plant in the northern Taiwan was selected as a sample system. The sample system was modeled in detail and simulated by a commercial simulation software package, PSpice. Simulation results indicated the operation characteristics of the system, such as voltage and current profiles, system losses and short-circuit capacities were affected considerably while a cogeneration plant was in parallel operation with the system. The advantages and disadvantages of the parallel operation of small cogeneration systems with a distribution system are explored in this paper.