How can you design a power system that can handle future expansion?

Load analysis: First step in power system design, define the load of equipment, lighting ,power,...etc. We should define diversity and load factors based on their data, which load/s should be connected with sensitive load (emergency Power) and other loads which can be non-sensitive.

The analysis needs to take into account the distinction between domestic, agricultural & industrial loads. The tertiary services like banks, educational institutions & offices can be compiled under domestic provided heavy duty loads are avoided. Though Multi- storeyed buildings are HD consumers.

Analysis should be done on existing power consumption and aligned with the growth in the area. By researching not only power increases, but also researching growth of interest in electric vehicles, electric appliances and solar - a forecasted growth curve could be created and used to design the power grid of the future.

In my experience, load forecasting is an exercise that is done for a rolling 10-year period, annually. From the transmission backbone (HV) planning point of view, load forecasting can be approached from two perspectives / vantage point i.e. top-down and bottoms-up. Top-down is forecasting load using the macro-economic data e.g. country's GDP, historical energy demand, historical peak demand etc. Bottoms-up approach is where the forecast is extrapolated from planning submission for demand growth from upcoming residential, commercial and industrial developments. To create a holistic forecast, these two approaches need to be reconciled to come to agreement to a single forecast that then be used to plan the grid network expansion.

In my humble opinion, the first thing that needs to be investigated and determined is the projected expansion type; is it a power supply to existing transmission lines? its power and lines expansion? is it just distribution expansion? then, there is the question of the loads and all those factors mentioned in the load analysis introduction. Distribution lines are the key factor to future expansion because they need to be able to provide for Future Power injection and distribution needs, then based on the load requirements, the power generation and control can grow accordingly. loads requirements will base the distribution lines and the lines will limit the total capacity.

Power Generation Options: In my experience we should have difference power sources example: Power generation station include Gas/Deisel generators and Renewable energy source as redundant. when we have hybrid generation system reliability will be increased and quality of power signal will be improved.

There are some preliminary facts that need to be established before generation expansion can be achieved. We have to set a SMART goal. The goal has to be: S, specific M, measurable A, achievable R, realistic T, time bound. Firstly, what's the installed capacity in megawatts, MW and it's percentage utilization? What capacity are we adding more in MW? What's the deciding factor for whatever capacity we want to add? Is it inadequacy of the present capacity, expected industrialization or population explosion? All these will help in giving us the specific and measurable capacity. Further before embarking on the execution, can we achieve adding such capacity to the existing capacity? The answer to the will be determined by the cost, etc, etc.

Extra generation capacity may be explored for feeding back to the grid at the design stage for efficiency & revenue. Here the analysis of expected & future growth in load shall be beneficial. Generally Diesel/ Gas is most suitable for the minimum Load followed by other sources for the variable component. The low load running of DG sets should be avoided at all costs.

Include information on how renewable energy sources can be effectively integrated, analyze the complete life cycle of each power generation method, examine existing policies and regulations, evaluate the system's resilience and security, consider community input, explore the economic feasibility, and spotlight upcoming trends in power generation for a well-rounded article.

For sensitive mission critical equipment like server farms where no outages are tolerable , the provision of Automatic Change over switches with nano seconds duty cycle may be explored. Similarly frequency sensitive equipment need to have rotable conversion equipment like MG sets for protection against discom harmonics.

Network design is critical to ensure the reliability of supply and ease future expansion work. Spur lines are highly avoided . Even if spur lines are deployed, high standard of network planning will ensure there are future planning to close the spur line to another source of injection. For transmission infrastructure, common design principle is to adopt n-1 reliability, as such all lines have two circuits.

Network topology is more of system reliability (adequacy and security of supply) than load handling capability of the network. One way to ensure future expansions are handled effectively by the network is to add redundancy to equipment rating and overall system rating. This should be done after an adequate load forecasting of the network.

Having a grid system that is future ready would be much easier if the grid system is design with certain principles such as the "I" or "H" network designs. This would allow flexibility and multiple injection sources that would enable a load point to receive power from alternative sources. However this would also mean higher cost as we would need to build multiple lines into a load center. Another consideration that may no longer be aligned to traditional philosophy of transmission network design is the current imperative of renewable energy injection into the grid. It's intermittency is a challenge and as such it is crucial for future expansion of network to design for grid level battery storage to aid stability and enhance RE integration.

For heavy consumers, preventing losses is like revenue generation & having automation in switching networks is a huge energy saver. Having centralised systems for heating/ cooling is an accepted norm for efficiency & ease of monitoring/ maintenance. Electric hygiene is a crucial maintenance philosophy to be adopted with simple adages like “ Good connections give Good results” worth their weight in Gold.

For future planning of the electric grid, the idea of a possible shift in power demand peak could be adjusted. Previously, we've seen that consumer power peaks in the evening on hot summer days. With the introduction of electric vehicles, we could possibly shift from evening peaks to night time peaks. People will be asleep while their EV chargers will be consuming more than their air conditioning would on a hot day.