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IntelliTeam® VV Volt-Var Optimization System

IntelliTeam® VV Volt-Var Optimization System

IntelliTeam VV helps electric utilities meet federal-, state-, or local-government mandated energy-saving goals by improving distribution system efficiency. Poor power factor, resulting from uncompensated reactive power, wastes energy and decreases system capacity. It’s also wasteful to run system voltage conservatively high. The precise voltage control provided by IntelliTeam VV helps utilities maintain a narrower voltage operating range while ensuring that feeder voltage remains within specified limits.

With the increasing use of distributed generation and energy storage on the system, and the associated variability of power flow, maintaining proper power factor has become even more difficult. IntelliTeam VV can be readily integrated with existing utility software applications, field devices, and sensors to enable significant efficiencies and demand reduction, requiring no customer involvement.

IntelliTeam VV offers important features as:

  • Flexible, robust control algorithm. Achieves optimal power factor and voltage levels. Can be tailored to meet unique utility objectives
  • Simultaneous voltage and VAR regulation. Capacitors are switched to regulate voltages and/or VARs while load tap changers and mid-line regulators optimize voltage profile
  • Optimized power factor for entire substation, balanced VAR loading on individual feeders
  • Heightened visibility of grid operating conditions. Using two-way communication and real-time feeder data, IntelliTeam VV flattens voltage profile along the feeder and minimizes reactive power. Ensures optimal grid efficiency at all times
  • Accepts a variety of voltage sensing inputs including distribution sensors and AMI meters
  • Robust, easy-to-visualize web-based interface. Displays real-time status of distribution network
  • Automated performance checks. Ensure all operating criteria are met, such as number of operations per time period
  • Enhanced reporting of real-time and historic data. Provides trend analysis and statistical reports
  • Power-flow-based dynamic measurement and verification. Validates energy efficiency benefits in real time . . . an industry first!

 

IntelliTeam VV inputs include real-time voltage measurements from AMI meters or distribution sensors, along with health and status information from substation RTUs, capacitor bank controls, load tap changer controls, and line voltage regulator controls. These inputs are applied to a heuristic algorithm, which manages and maintains system power factor targets and overall system voltage profile through appropriate control of the field devices. The success in executing each action is reported back to the substation.

IntelliTeam VV can be configured to recommend particular actions but not automatically take those actions. This capability allows the user to become familiar with the algorithm and the decisions it makes prior to fully implementing the system.

The control algorithm was developed through years of experience and has been field proven to achieve high power factors as well as flatten and maintain system voltage levels. The algorithm combines power factor correction with voltage optimization to achieve Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR). It allows the user to realize heightened system efficiency through peak shaving and reduced overall load. An example is shown below.

During peak load season
During peak load season, power factor always exceeded 0.985 on this one-month power factor plot.

Four-day distribution voltage test
Four-day distribution voltage test shows an average 2.5-volt reduction when Dynamic Voltage Optimization Module is used.

24-hour instantaneous demand plot
24-hour instantaneous demand plot shows instantaneous power savings ranged between 175 kW and 275 kW.

Measurement and Verification

IntelliTeam VV has the ability to measure and verify the system savings and overall benefits it has achieved, through use of an on-line, unbalanced distribution power flow engine with state estimation.

A model of the system baseline is compared with actual real-time measurements to determine the benefits achieved by the system. Real power, reactive power, and apparent power savings are reported, in real time, along with the loss reduction savings. There is no need to run the system and then turn it off to establish a baseline for comparison.

SCADA/DMS Integration

IntelliTeam VV can be applied as a stand-alone system or integrated into an SCADA or DMS platform through DNP or a web service interface. This flexibility allows users who are looking to deploy a full-scale DMS to achieve the benefits of power factor correction and voltage optimization prior to implementing the DMS. IntelliTeam VV requires less effort to configure, manage, and maintain than a typical SCADA or DMS platform.

Multiple Control Strategies

IntelliTeam VV offers multiple control strategy options. Control strategies can be enabled individually or combined to provide concurrent benefits from managing the system with multiple goals. Automated checks and balances eliminate “hunting” and “cycling” when multiple strategies are enabled.

 

Layered Intelligence™

As one of the S&C Layered Intelligence™ Smart Grid solutions, IntelliTeam VV, combined with local capacitor control logic and DMS policy enforcement, can provide a layered intelligence approach for more robust management of the distribution system. Each application is powerful on its own. But working together, they provide global system control that also functions precisely in the local environment.

Consider, for example, the consequences of a communication outage. Normally, the IntelliTeam VV control algorithm makes optimization decisions for all feeders emanating from the substation. But if communication is interrupted, the capacitor bank controls, load tap changer controls, and line voltage regulator controls revert to local intelligence. The results are not optimized . . . but are certainly better than no power factor correction. When communication is subsequently restored, IntelliTeam VV resumes its normal activity, with the DMS effecting policy management to ensure system stability.