Effect of LED technology on technical losses in public lighting circuits. A case study

Grau, Frank | 2021-04-14

In this work, an analysis of the quality of electrical energy is carried out, based on the replacement of High-Pressure Sodium Vapor Lamps (HPSV) with Light Emission Diode (LED) lamps in the low voltage networks of public lighting. The study takes into account the advantages and disadvantages of using this technology, among the efforts to reduce electricity consumption and achieve higher rates of electro-energy efficiency. The effect of current harmonics on transformation losses, line losses, and voltage profiles in the circuit is analyzed. Flow runs in the public lighting circuit are obtained from models developed in MATLAB. The models of the loads with harmonic content for the simulation of the lamps were developed from measurements made in the laboratory for these loads. The results obtained due to the replacement of HPSV lamps by LEDs did not show significant differences in terms of harmonic contamination, determining that both technologies present harmonic distortion rates of currents above the standard value. Besides, a significant reduction in the voltage drop and power losses of the lines is achieved, improving the power factor in the distribution network.