Creating electrical distribution boundaries using computational geometry

Summary form only given. This paper outlines a method to define polygons that approximate the boundaries of electrical distribution operational areas (e.g., feeder boundaries). This method involves: 1) deriving the two-dimensional Voronoi diagram for the locations of distribution facilities; e.g., distribution transformer locations, 2) marking the Voronoi edges that adjoin different feeders, and 3) traversing the marked edges always keeping the feeder of interest to the left. The resulting boundaries are an extremely useful adjunct to an electric utility´s geographic information system (GIS), providing facility managers with a way to query operational and financial statistics at a level of detail (e.g., by substation, feeder, feeder section, etc.) that would be otherwise impractical or even impossible.