Improvement of the Voltage Quality in an Electrical Network via the Loopback: Case of the Southern Interconnected Grid (SIG) of Cameroon

Abstract

Electricity being a basic national infrastructure for a country, its security, reliability and quality are the most important parameters for the network managers. Several methods are generally used to improve the voltage quality more and more. However, most of the means implemented depend on external factors independent of the network managers or require huge regular financial resources. The method used in this paper is the loopback, applied to the Southern Interconnected Grid (SIG) of Cameroon, which is the largest network in the country. The procedure used takes into account nodes experiencing huge voltage drops and network constraints. The chosen loopback scenario results in a clear improvement of the voltage plan in this network, and also a discharge of the transformers, a considerable decongestion of the lines, a reduction of the power losses and a significant reduction of the thermal placement used for improvement of the voltage profile.