URBAN DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS - SOME GENERAL PLANNING OBSERVATIONS

Efficiency and performance targets are nowadays being tangibly addressed by the regulation authorities. Customer demands on distribution networks, both qualitative and quantitative, are increasing. Whilst most urban distribution network development occurs in the context of existing and ageing developed networks, it is legitimate to highlight some general planning targets showing the cost implications of various medium voltage planning philosophies, such as voltage levels, the use of parallel conductors in congested and heavily loaded regions, and full or economically optimal backup connections and switch placement. This paper uses a new automatic network routing algorithm to show the topographical impact of these considerations on a realistic network, serving to both demonstrate some aspects of the algorithm and highlight planning concerns going into the future. It is the authors’ wish to illustrate the new algorithm, because it directly addresses a comprehensive range of actual planning requirements in real distribution networks, both urban and rural, although it is the former that forms the focus of this paper.