Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) Summary and Opportunities

By

April 2013

4170 Ashford Dunwoody Road Suite 550 Atlanta, GA 30319 888-999-8840 www.enervision-inc.com

Executive Summary
Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) or the reduction of energy consumption resulting from a reduction of feeder voltage has been available to utilities for several years as one of the tools available to them in the suite of demand side management / demand response tools to reduce load during peak conditions. Although there has been much discussion within the utilities, both pro and con, over the effectiveness of CVR for demand reduction many utilities have deployed the program with interesting results. In the last five years with the increased attention given to renewable resources and energy efficiency a renewed interest in the capabilities of CVR has occurred. Several studies by various utility and government entities have been performed with interesting results. Typically those results indicate there is definitive, measurable demand reduction resulting with the lowering of the voltage on utility feeders. The correlation is in the range of approximately 0.7% load reduction for each 1% in feeder voltage reduction. For example, a utility system with a forecasted peak load of 300 MW using a 5% reduction in feeder voltage (i.e. reduce the voltage from 120 VAC to 114 VAC) the annual savings based on pricing of $50/KW-year, can approach $525,000. Based on various study results this reduction can and does occur with minimal, if any, impact to or notice by the consumer.

Purpose
The intent of this whitepaper is to review the concept of a specific demand side load reduction strategy, conservation voltage reduction (CVR). A common definition of the concept of CVR is provided, along with an overview of the functional operation, a summary of the potential value of CVR deployment to a utility and identification of possible implementation strategies for urban and rural electric distribution systems. For the purpose of this discussion, conservation voltage reduction (CVR) is defined as a reduction of energy consumption resulting from a reduction of feeder voltage. That is, as the utility lowers the service voltage on a specific distribution feeder (within allowable service limits) the corresponding load on the feeder is also reduced. With this definition established the whitepaper provides a look at the initial history of CVR and how this aspect of demand response is viewed and deployed today.

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History
Conservation Voltage Reduction has been deployed, studies conducted, data gathered and analysis performed for more than 40 years. However, with the deployment and analysis has come much skepticism about the true effectiveness of CVR to reduce the load on the electric system. This skepticism stems from several concerns: The requirement on the serving utility to follow the ANSI standard and maintain the secondary voltages on the feeder to 120 VAC, +/- 5%. Low voltage on the feeder would or could result in damage to customer equipment, specifically motors, compressors and similar end devices. Lost revenues from the reduction in energy consumption. Concerns for possible customer complaints of low voltage. Inherent operational philosophy a utility must keep the voltage at 120+VAC along the feeder to last customer.

Over the previous 40 years one main issue has kept the concerns with CVR alive and viable; utilities did not have a reliable, accurate, inexpensive method available to monitor the voltage changes along the feeder of interest as the voltage was reduced. That is, as the secondary voltage was reduced at the substation from 120+VAC, utilities did not have an accurate, reliable method to monitor the impact on the voltage on each phase of the circuit along and at the end of the feeder. During this time the only tools available to the distribution engineer were computer based models which typically considered peak load conditions only. The models required the use of voltage recorders to monitor and track typical voltage profiles at the location of recorder installation and not along the entire feeder. Thus trying to accurately implement a CVR program with this limited data helps continue to fuel the dispute over the actual load reduction capabilities of CVR. Many utilities used devices such as the recording volt meters that monitored and tracked the magnitude of the voltage on the feeder. However these devices were expensive to purchase and maintain, they recorded data on charts using time incremented in days, not hours or minutes, and the recording meters measurements were not as accurate as needed to evaluate the impact of voltage reductions to one percent or less of nominal voltage. They also produced after-the-fact data rather than real-time data. Thus the information was not useful to the utility operators monitoring the system. With the development and deployment of electronic meters with more accurate and reliable measurement capabilities, greater data storage capacity, and near real-time communications, the testing and validation of CVR on a feeder became more practical and the results more reliable, defendable and transportable to other utilities. The availability of reliable electronic meters with increased data storage, coupled with a renewed interest in cost reductions by the utilities, and an increased push for conservation by various
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entities at the local, state and federal levels has given rise to another level of studies of the effectiveness of conservation voltage reduction.

Currently
Over the past two to five years several utilities both public power and investor owned have deployed electronic meters across their service areas to improve the accuracy and timeliness of customer billing, improve cash flow, reduce energy theft, and reduce the cost of meter reading. At the same time deployment of electronic meters provided utilities with the opportunity to collect data on the local voltage and energy consumed at each meter. With the ability to collect this data accurately and reliability the utility was able to develop load shapes for energy consumption by customer classes and develop voltage profiles for feeders and substations. This technology is tied to the much mentioned and discussed concept of Smart Grid. Smart Metering provides the ability to monitor, collect, store and retrieve the necessary data for CVR deployment and the associated technology to monitor and control the voltage from the source substation to the end of the feeder. With this interval data now regularly available, many entities with an interest in demand reduction or load reduction are deploying tests to capture available data (load, voltage, other) for analysis under demand reduction conditions. Many of these studies have been conducted by various national labs of the Federal government, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the NRECA Cooperative Research Network (CRN). A few of the studies researching the impact on the load on the feeder by reducing the feeder voltage are listed below. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) report, Evaluation of Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) on a National Level Cooperative Research Network (CRN) Project: Distribution Efficiency Modeling Studies: Choosing the Best Method to Optimize a Distribution System.; Result # 08-09, Date: 05/09/2012 Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance Distribution Efficiency Report California Energy Commission (CEC) report CEC-500-2006-058 ERPI/co-funded by CRN Distribution Green Circuits EPRI/co-funded by CRN; Voltage Optimization NEETRAC Project #11-004; Conservation Voltage Reduction - Performance Assessment Information and data from these studies have confirmed the capabilities of CVR to reduce electric system demand and energy consumed coincident with voltage reduction. This paper provides an overview of the applicable findings applicable to distribution utility electric systems and suggests the equipment needed and cost impact to be considered for the implementation of CVR capability.
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CVR System Components

As mentioned earlier, the ability to fully use CVR as a tool to reduced load requires the ability to easily lower and monitor the voltage on one or more feeders. For accuracy and operational analysis it is ideal to have voltages monitored along short intervals of the feeder(s) and return the data to the utility headquarters for the creation of voltage profiles for analysis and secure data storage. The feeder voltage profile data should be monitored, collected, analyzed and stored on the shortest metering interval as the retrieval system can support. One key element of CVR is a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. For CVR applications SCADA is used to continuously monitor voltage at the line terminals of the feeder (or bus) regulators. These voltage readings are the source values against which the downstream feeder voltage data points are compared and contrasted. Additionally, the remote control capabilities built into the SCADA system provides the control function used at the regulators to lower the voltage. The load data monitored from the substation provides real-time confirmation of the effect on the load from the reduction in voltage. The voltage profiles for the feeder are confirmed using the interval data from the electronic Smart Meters. This provides a readily analyzed confirmation of the effectiveness of the CVR implementation, and compliance with the ANSI service voltage requirements. Note that although bus regulation (provided by one set of regulators for all feeders in a substation) can be used with a CVR strategy; it should be pointed out that this configuration may be suitable for CVR deployment. This is discussed in more detail later. In addition to the SCADA system to monitor, collect and analyze the real-time feeder load and voltage, it is preferred the utility have some type of automated metering system deployed loads subject to the CVR program. As mentioned above, monitoring the voltage along the feeder from the substation to the end of the feeder is crucial to the analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of the CVR program. The metered data is also important when responding to low voltage complaints. In addition to the SCADA system and the automated metering system it is important that the communications media used to provide communications in support of SCADA and the meters is reliable, secured and well maintained. The communications system may be common to a portion of or all the SCADA and the AMR/AMI system deployment. Regardless of the type communications media used and whether it supports one system or both, the communications network should provide the capability to retrieve interval load and voltage data from a strategically selected portion of the meters installed. The interval data will be the basis for the analysis of, and the correlation to, the amount of load reduced at the time of voltage reduction.

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Another component that is not directly associated with CVR, but may be necessary to support its implementation is a tool referred to as a meter data management system (MDMS). This tool or database is used to off-load the data from the AMR/AMI system for analysis, data mining and long term storage. While a utility was once receiving one energy reading per month per meter, a utility with AMR/AMI is now retrieving an average of 720 readings per meter per month. With the deployment of CVR, the move to finer increments of data, and the addition of voltage data, the utility can now expect to receive and store up to 5,760 readings per month for each meter used to monitor CVR deployment. One other aspect of CVR deployment is the identification of any down line (feeder) regulators and capacitor banks. Many times the capacitor banks are switchable, but are not necessarily set up for remote control and monitoring. The same applies to the down line regulators as well. Thus it is vital the utility review the selected feeder(s) and determine the configuration. If are there regulators, capacitor banks, or other voltage support related devices on the feeder, these devices need to be addressed as part of the CVR implementation strategy. It may be that their operations will need to be actively controlled, or that their status be monitored along with the local voltages. Distribution modeling will be instructive in creating a strategy for these devices. In summary, the components needed for implementation include: AMR/AMI System with Smart Meters SCADA system for monitoring and control of substations in the CVR program Two-way communications network for SCADA and AMR/AMI Communications support and remote control capability for down-line capacitor banks and regulators Meter Data Management System (MDMS) to archive the AMR/AMI data

Implementation
To consider implementation of a CVR program, it is advisable to clearly identify the utilitys objectives for the program. For most utilities reducing voltage is foreign to their operational philosophy and may not be considered a prudent practice. However, several studies have shown that many devices actually operate more efficiently when the service voltage is closer to the recommended operating voltage. In the case of many motor loads, the devices operate more efficiently at their typical nameplate voltage rating of 114 VAC 115 VAC. Providing voltages in excess of 120 VAC to induction motors actually can result in additional energy input being thrown off by the device as waste heat. Applying the ANSI standard for these devices of 120 VAC +/- 5% results in 114 VAC to 126 VAC.

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The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has estimated and confirmed that reducing voltage can reduce the corresponding peak load. Additionally, the results of analysis performed as part of a review of several early adopters of CVR found that on average every 1 percent drop in voltage delivered a 0.7 to 0.8 percent drop in power. And most feeders could safely drop 3 to 4V. Another observation that warrants consideration is that not all feeders are configured the same; the mix of loads varies from one feeder to another. Thus it is advisable for the utility considering the deployment of a CVR program to review their feeder configurations, identify those with the best potential and focus on those feeders first; and possibly only focus on those feeders. Indications are that utilities may be able to obtain a significant portion of CVR savings deployed over a subset of their feeders. This requires an analysis of the feeders under consideration and a prioritization for CVR deployment.

CVR Deployment Cost Estimate

Deployment of a CVR program requires the following components be installed or available for installation: Hardware, o Smart meter server o Communications server o Database server o Meters and other field equipment Software, o Meter reading software o Database o MDMS (meter data management system) o Data analytics o Intrusion detection and other security programs Smart meters with interval reporting capability of load and voltage data, Communications capabilities of sufficient bandwidth to accommodate data traffic to and from the meters SCADA devices, Meter data management system (MDMS), Analytical tools to monitor the data retrieved from the smart meters along the feeder(s), and Staffing to support the CVR program

Accurate estimates of the incremental cost of a specific CVR deployment will require utilityspecific information. This would include an assessment of any AMI, SCADA and communications systems currently deployed as well as the current intent and objectives of the utility regarding the deployment or upgrade of these systems. Going forward, a cost-benefit
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matrix can be developed which reflects the specifics of the utilitys potential to reduce demand through CVR deployment, its avoided power supply costs, and incremental cost of system upgrades to deploy and monitor a CVR program.

Cost Savings
The savings available to an electric utility system implementing a CVR program is primarily based on the amount of KW demand reduction that can be achieved for the decrease in voltage achieved. Studies to date as well as actual in-field deployment indicate there is approximately a 0.7% - 0.8% reduction in demand for each 1% drop in voltage. Based on these estimates, and assuming the following: 0.7% reduction in demand for each 1% voltage reduction Electric system nominal voltage = 120 VAC Reduce the nominal voltage 5% to 114 VAC Demand reduction of achieved = 3.5% Based on a 300 MW system peak demand, the total demand reduction of 10.5 MW is obtained For an avoided demand charge of $50/KW-year The potential savings = $525,000/year

Suggested Next Steps

For an electric utility system to pursue deployment of a CVR Program the recommended next steps follow. Review terms of existing Power Supply Agreement to confirm demand side and energy efficiency programs are applicable Review the electric system and feeders for likely best candidates taking into account: o Loading, o Types of loads, o AMR/AMI coverage (fully metered, communications access, interval data reading capability, data storage capacity at head-end system, others) o SCADA available in source substation with data points available to accommodate new data requirements Perform a cost-benefit on best feeder(s) based on current cost information GO/NO-GO

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If a Go for the test; create test plan for CVR operation o Responsible party with utility o Data collection frequency and archival duration, o Frequency of operation o Duration of testing o Analysis o Reporting

Identify triggers for a Go/No-Go decision on expansion of CVR Program

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