Moving to Single-Phase Voltage Regulation Saves Utility Costs, Improves Power Quality for Industrials

Traditionally, switchable devices such as on-load tap-changers (OLTCs), step-voltage regulators and capacitor banks have been used to regulate voltage within the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) limits and manage reactive power compensation throughout distribution systems. OLTCs and capacitor banks use three-phase ganged operation, which does not mitigate the problem of unbalanced phase voltage. Yet, voltage unbalance causes performance and reliability issues in three-phase motors and rectifiers. For this paper, Eaton collaborated with American Electric Power (AEP) to investigate the technical and economic advantages associated with single-phase voltage regulation (compared to ganged three-phase voltage regulation) in substation applications. Simulations were carried out using Eaton CYME software utilizing two distribution network models. The simulation demonstrates the ability of single-phase voltage regulation to provide balanced voltage and better utilize conservation voltage reduction (CVR) - reducing costs and improving power quality, while modernizing the grid and supporting increased distributed energy resources (DERs).