An Analytical Approach for Phase Balancing Considering Customer Load Profile

Unbalanced loading in the distribution systems causes feeder unbalance. This feeder unbalance deteriorates the power quality and increases power loss in the system. This paper proposes an analytical approach of phase balancing considering the load profile of each bus. The minimization of power loss is taken as an objective, considering the requirement that the number of phase swappings should be minimum. Current unbalance factor (CUF), voltage unbalance factor (VUF), and loading index improvement are also taken into consideration. A novel priority vector is also proposed to find the highest-priority buses, at which phase swapping may be performed. This priority vector reduces the search space and computational effort of finding the buses at which phase swapping should be carried out. The proposed methodology has been tested on IEEE 34-bus and IEEE 123-bus system. The result shows significant improvement in current and voltage unbalance factor. Reduction in power loss is observed, and the loading index of the system is also improved.