Network Optimization - Who Cares about the Post-Construction Costs?

Earlier I wrote about the basics of electricity network optimization and the man who knows it inside out, Eero Saarijärvi, Consultant for Electricity and Gas at Trimble Energy. Since that was just a scratch in the surface – there is literally so much into it – today I’ll lead you a little deeper.

As we’ve learned, minimizing life-cycle costs while keeping the technical aspects in mind is one of the key factors of the optimization, and it plays an important role in your asset investment planning. To open that up a bit more, the solution that Eero has worked on actually allows you to choose what kind of a network you are aiming at, and whether you are interested solely in the construction costs or want to take into account the entire network life-cycle, considering, for example, the reliability, operating, and maintenance costs. The most optimal network, of course, is the one designed for the entire life-cycle.

Eero Saarijärvi received his M.Sc.Degree in Electrical Engineering in 2008, and completed his D.Sc. in 2013. Building on his studies, he’s been prototyping network optimization at Trimble since 2014.

I​t all gets started by considering the underlying network topology, that is, for example, selecting which connections to include in the final network. “So whatever we do with the network”, Eero explains, “whether it’s selecting some lines in between substations, switching devices or open points, all those decisions have broad impacts over the network, and we always base them on minimizing the life-cycle costs.”

“You can place open points into the network in minutes.”

“So for the internodal connections, we figure out which substations – both primary and secondary – should be connected with each other. For each of these connections, then, we make a selection between alternative line types, such as overhead lines or underground cables,” Eero continues.

However, our solution isn’t just about routing in terms of the life-cycle costs. Eero also emphasizes the importance of doing dimensioning for the lines with the in-built load flow calculation. “We can make use of the results so that the outcoming network fulfills the technical constraints, such as ampacity, voltage drop.”

​​Adding switches hasn’t been forgotten, either. “We consider three different kinds of switches: manual disconnectors, remote disconnectors and reclosers. They will each be placed in the network in terms of optimal costs, always,” Eero continues, and adds: “For the resulting network, we also consider the normal open points.” Watching Eero demo the network generation, indeed, the optimization places both the switching devices and the open points into the automatically generated network in minutes. Talk about a work hour saver!

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Discussing parametrization: Simply Click Analyze!

“Whatever we do with the network, it’s always based on minimizing the costs.”

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Now I’m starting to share Eero’s enthusiasm over the optimization. But, where this may have been one of the coolest aspects in our network optimization, I’m luckily not by any means done with the topic!

-Hanna

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