Gis-Based Decision Support for Distribution system Improvement-A Case Study in the Pea N1 Chiangmai Thailand Kasirawat Tirapong, Saksornchai Titti, Chomchavalit Siwapornpat Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Thailand Online published on 6 January, 2017. Abstract Planning and designing for electrical substation, transmission and distribution to meet the electrical demand from residential, commercial and industrial customers is one of the greatest challenges faces by utilities. The system must provide a good quality of supply to the users including safety and efficiency. In addition, it must be able to cover an emerging demand from new customers in the coming future. In a large city with high growth and expansion rate, the utility has to solve a variety of electrical supply problems, i.e. high peak demand, quality of supply, voltage drop, distribution transformer size upgrade, network expansion, etc. This paper presents a case study of Provincial Electricity Authority Area 1 (North) Chiangmai Province (PEA N1) having 24, 000 cct-km of 22 kV distribution line, 50, 000 cct-km of low voltage circuit, and 43, 800 installed distribution transformers (6.6 MVA capacity) to supply a total of 1, 800, 000 customers. From this very large figure of PEA N1 network, voltage and load measurement data collection for system improvement engineering requires excessive resources and is time consuming process. As a result, timely system improvement to meet customer demands will be a very difficult task to be achieved. From the above, PEA N1 has developed a GIS-based decision support system for transmission and distribution networks planning and design. The support system will import customer energy usage data from SAP into customer meters and distribution transformers database in GIS. Each distribution transformer service area can be shown graphically by using Arc GIS. Then, the gathered energy usage data is applied to determine load condition of distribution transformers and electrical density consumption in the interested area. Based on this derived and practical information, engineers can quickly and efficiently make a decision on system improvement and electrical network and substation expansion, to cope with a changing demand in any service area. In conclusion, GIS-based decision support system is a great tool for distribution system improvement planning and design. The support system will help a utility in reducing cost, error and time usage in field data collection. As a result, utility can promptly respond to growing demand and increase customer satisfaction. Top Keywords GIS (Geographic Information System), Distribution System Improvement, Transformer Load Analysis. Top |