Brief review of the state of the art in International practice of Energy Audit in Power Distribution System

Audit a) b) c) d)

in Power system, as per International Norms or ideas, envisages the followings : system or network review & associated upgradation rigorous reliability survey of equipment power system studies, device evaluation & obsolescence action plan for maintenance upgradation, new capital investment and improvement of energy efficiency at all levels.

The audit process includes three elements : 1) the pre audit activities, those done in planning and preparing for the audit; 2) the onsite audit activities by the audit team, from gathering for and beginning the audit to reporting to management the results of the audit; and 3) the post audit activities, which include documenting the audit in an appropriate report format and then developing and executing a corrective action plan to address the improvement opportunities identified by the audit team. Onsite audit activities include a review for compliance with internal and external standards. Internal standards include corporate standards and site-specific standards. External standards include standards such as NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, OSHA 29 subpart S1910.331-335, OSHA CFR 29 subpart R1910.269, OSHA 1910.147, OSHA 1926 subpart K etc. The periodical US grid surveys undertaken by IEEE have been aiming towards addressing all the above issues including attractive payback options and realization of a smart grid. The surveys also explore possibilities towards integration of renewable energy in the grid, tax incentives for that, cogeneration and new technologies etc. One of the offshoots of these surveys has been the Energy Independence and Security Act (2005). In 2006 the EPA initiated the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency (NAPEE), a public private program, targeting substantial amount of energy savings. US primary energy consumption grew by 1.7 percent / year between 1990 and 2000 and then stagnated until 2007. It has been decreasing since then (by 2.3 percent in 2008 and by 5 percent in 2009). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 promoted a Production Tax Credit (PTC), a federal incentive that provides tax credits proportional to the amount of renewable generation; and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which grants a 30 percent investment tax credit for installations under construction in 20092010 and operational before 2013-2017. In 2008, Congress authorized loans amounting to 10 billion dollars for renewable and / or energy efficient systems. Smart grid issues will accelerate a natural evolution toward more optimization, realtime operation, and intelligent algorithms in distribution system analysis. From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, distribution system analysis computer programs evolved from

simple balanced load voltage drop calculators that automated hand calculations to sophisticated systems with databases and interactive graphics. The datacollection/analysis effort completed in 2000 was established to enhance the Power Reliability Enhancement Program (PREP) database that was last updated in the mid1990s. The PREP database determines the effects of new-technology equipment, i.e., equipment installed after 1971, on reliability and availability Presently EPRI is cooperating with and helping lead IEEE efforts in assessing distribution software tools and developing test benchmarks. The 8500-node test feeder arising out due to the joint effort includes many elements that may be found on a North American rural distribution feeder including multiple feeder regulators, multiple switched capacitor banks, secondaries, and service transformers. The interactive power systems simulation package made by Florida based Power World Corporation for high voltage power systems operation on a real time frame ranging from several minutes to several days may be worth mentioning here. The rate of electricity transmission and distribution losses in the USA is low (6 percent compared with 6,6 percent on average for the OECD countries) and decreased significantly between 1990 and 2000, from 10 percent to 4.6 percent. The USA promotes energy efficiency in industry through R&D programs, notably the Industrial Technologies Program, which was launched in 1999 to develop innovative technologies. In addition, the DOE created 26 Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) to lead energy efficiency audits in small- and medium sized industries. The EPA promotes voluntary agreements, such as Climate Savers (2000). In 2007 the Climate Leaders initiative (2002) was reinforced through the Save Energy Now campaign, targeting a 25 percent reduction in energy intensity by 2020. As part of the National Energy Policy, the Green Power Partnership and the Combined Heat and Power Partnership (2001) aim to promote the use of renewable sources and CHP in the industrial sector. Congress attempted to make power dependable through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by mandating an Electricity Reliability Organization (ERO). Another aspect which should be equally emphasized is that while accepted industry practices do exist for measuring distribution system performance, these practices can be rather loosely interpreted. The notable work of the IEEE and RUS serves to provide universal standards for measuring performance across all utilities in US. A typical example that can be cited in this regard is the Power Reliability Enhancement Program (PREP) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Belvoir, VA, which established a utility system availability goal of 0.999 999 (31.5 s/year downtime) at Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence facilities worldwide. The methodology PREP used in calculating the system reliability and availability was a Boolean-algebra-based modeling technique using individual equipment reliability values to produce the system model.