Costs and Benefits of Smart Feeder Switching Quantifying the Operating Value of SFS
April 30, 2014
NRECA
This report discusses the deployment experience at nine rural electrical cooperative utilities of distribution automation technologies applied to Smart Feeder Switching (SFS) applications. We investigate the suitability of models to represent and predict the benefits of these technologies, with extensions to automating screening and engineering analysis for future deployments. This study defines an analytical methodology for quantifying the value of two SFS operational benefits:
(1) more rapid restoration following a fault and
(2) reduced losses through feeder load balancing. It also conveys a listing of SFS benefits and costs, identifying those deemed to have first order impacts, and compares projected values with field study results from National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Smart Grid Demonstration Project participants. In addition, it defines a logical modeling framework and analytics process for evaluating costs and benefits.
