MANAGEMENT OF POWER LOSS REDUCTION

PLAN FOR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN YANGON

AREA, MYANMAR
Aung Tun Lin1, S. N Singh2
1
PG Scholar, 2Senior Scientific Officer, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre,
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, (India)

ABSTRACT
Power loss reduction initiative in distribution systems leads to reduce the cost of energy purchase and increase
the distribution infrastructurers’ capacities. Therefore it is a vital objective in the sound management of Yangon
Electricity Supply Coporation. This paper deals power loss reduction in distribution systems with respective
diagnostics and implementation of power losses reduction plan in yangon area in myanmar. The power loss is
needed to reduce to acceptable level even though there is no data automation control (DAC) system in
distribution system. In this paper, some information is based on experiences of planning and implementation of
loss reduction and power improvemet projects that had been planned in Yangon area. This paper has proposed
the effective technique and active analytical management approaches for the loss reduction plan and
development of action plans to solve the power losses in the Yangon distribution system.

Keywords: Distribution System, Management, Power loss Reduction, System Improvement (SI)

I. INTRODUCTION

Yangon is the largest city in the country with a total area of 10276.71km2. Its population is estimated to be over
7.3 million or almost 14.3% of the country‟s total population. The population density is 716 people per square
km [1]. The Yangon city is divided into 55 townships, and there are many business and industrial areas scattered
around its downtown district. There was the public demonstration with candles at night because of shortage of
electricity in May, 2012 [2].In the present day,there is no shortage of electricity since there is an increase of
thermal power generation in Yangon area. But reducing technical & non-technical losses is currently an
imperative requirement for Yangon Electricity Supply Cooperation (YESC), supplying the electricity to the
whole Yangon city, since nearly 20 % of losses can actually endanger the financial status of YESC. The high
rate of power losses causes a reduction in revenue resulting in all the ensuing economic consequences, costly,
useless investments and poor quality of service offered to customers.They are willing to conduct energy
distribution process to reduce technical losses and customer management process to reduce non-technical losses.
The reasons which currently cause the distribution losses are poor infrastructure, namely lack of renovation and
modernization, overloading, poor maintenance and repair, lack of capital/ investment, low efficiency and

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obsolete technology.In this paper, the proposed technique/methodology is for the analysis of problem solving of
the loss reduction and for the development of action plans to solve power loss problems through a systemic
approach.

II. DISTRIBUTION POWER LOSSES

The transmission and distribution losses are generally as high as 20 to 30 percent of total power generation.
Therefore the challenge is more pronounced in case of distribution systems. Basic reason is that the distribution
systems are operated at much lower voltages as compared to transmission systems [3]. The distribution losses or
total loss in Yangon is classified into two categories, namelyTechnical losses and Non-Technical Loss
(commercial loss). Technical losses are generally the sum of load losses in line and, load and no load losses in
the transformer. Non-Technical losses often arise from users tampering with electricity meters and inefficient
billing system. Fig.1 shows the variation of losses in distribution system in Yangon. It is made the some efforts
for reducing loss since 2006, leading to the distribution loss reduced by about 5% from 24.1% in 2006 to 19.3 in
2011. Today, less than 20% of receiving electrical energy of Yangon is lost between sending ends (Thermal
Power Plants and Main Substation as the entrance of Yangon region) and receiving (customer) ends.

Fig 1.Variation of Losses in Distribution System in Yangon

III. TECHNICAL OPERATION AND NON-TECHNICAL LOSS MANAGEMENT

The problem of power losses is illustrated as shown in Fig.2, explaining the functional process and the losses
appeared at each state of the technical and Non-Technical (commercial) management in Yangon. The amount of
energy (A) is purchased, which needed for the customers‟ demand (B) in Yangon region. The objective is to
manage this energy and see how to convey to each customer effectively. The financial resources come from the
energy billed (C) to each customer (i. e the product actually sold) and effective payment of the bills, the amount
of energy (D) indicates in the bills collected. According to this figure process, energy A received by the
distribution system is practically higher than energy billed C to customers , and the energy billed C is also
higher than energy paid D which is effectively paid. The interest is therefore to reduce distribution system
losses. In this paper, the voltage level considering the distribution losses is up to 66kV network voltage level.

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 Fig 2.Technical Operation and Non- Technical Loss Management [4]
In figure 2, the non-technical losses or commercial losses (NTL1) result from unbilled energy related to actually
consumed energy, but not recorded or inaccurately recorded in the distribution billing system. NTL1 losses
depend on the deficiency of the billing system. NTL2 losses are unpaid energy losses as the absence of payment
or a delay in the payment of bills issued. Some customers take electricity illegally by direct connection to the
distribution lines. It is also counted as commercial losses. These all non-technical losses directly depend on the
quality of the customer management chain. In order to reduce the system losses, the following three means of
actions are taken:
 Checking the purchased energy amount (A) necessary for demand (B) from Myanma Electric Power
Eneterprise (MEPE) and Independent Power Producers. To achieve this, it is needed to manage for
designing and operating the power distribution network in a technically optimal way to reduce the losses to
a minimum acceptable level with respect to physical phenomena.
 Maximizing billed energy (C) : it must manage for designing and operating a customer management system
to assess the energy consumed by customer , to bill it accurately and add up the total amount. A customer
forgotten or not billed , leads a financial loss.
 Maximizing paid energy (D) : To achieve this , it must manage to monitor the payment of bills, conduct
actions to compel defaulters to pay as quickly as possible so as to reduce unpaid energy to a minimum. For
example, in Yangon they are fined Ks. 2000 (equivalent to 57% of cost of basic level of 100 electricity units
for per day late till one month), otherwise after one month electricity may be cut off.

IV. POWER OUTAGE RECORD MANAGEMENT

The data on power outage records have to be analyzed to consider which township needs the facilities measures
from the perspective of fault. According to [5], the interruption of the outage records indicates that the overhead

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distribution lines fault is the most frequent cause of power outage and load shedding was also the major case in
June, 2013. This showed that the large number of facilities is 33kV distribution lines and 6.6kV or 11kV
distribution lines. Fig.3 shows the frequency of power outage by fault at each voltage level.In figure 3, the fault
of overhead lines accounts for the substantial proportion of the causes for fault. The frequent use of bare wires
for overhead lines has caused a number of short-circuit and grounding faults due to a contact with trees or other
wires.

Fig 3.Proportion of Causes of Power Outages (Number of Times)

The number of times of power outage by fault can be reduced by covering lines. The power outage recorded
includes power outage by fault, by planned outage and by shut down work. In June 2013, Load shedding was
the extremely large fraction of the number of times. This resulted from failure to generate full power due to the
smaller precipitation in June than other years, leading to the insufficient amount of water reserved in the dams of
hydropower stations. Townships (Seikan and Dagon Seikan) showed the large number of times and longer
duration of power outage by fault because of smaller facility capacity. It is due to less number of feeder as well
as distribution substations. As this is dependent on the power source capacity, it was expected to improve the
power generation facilities that need to cover demands in Yangon. This means Yangon was dependent on
hydropower even though where there are four thermal power stations, but hydropower stations are far away
from Yangon. The sites with the frequent fault records were picked up in the current distribution networks to
develop the priority investment plan. Therefore, as generation side, new GT as well as STG around total 390
MW, were also reinforced in Yangon area in 2014 to generate electric power in order to fulfill the demand of
Yangon. Now it can reduce the load shedding in Yangon area.

V. CUSTOMER POWER CONSUMPTION IN DAILY LOAD CURVE

The daily load curve of a system is not the same for all days. It differs from day to day or season to season. It
gives the load variation during different hours of the day and the peak load indicated by the load curve gives the
maximum demand in the system. The area under the load curve gives the total energy generated in the period
under consideration. The total energy generated divided by the total number of hours gives the average load.
The ratio of the average load to the maximum demand gives the load factor. In practice, Load curve is not a flat
load curve. For a flat load curve, the load factor will be higher. Higher load factor means more uniform load

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pattern with less variations in load [6]. It is desirable from the point of view of maximum utilization of
associated equipment which is selected on the basis of maximum demand.

Fig 4.Hourly Different Load in Yangon on April, 2015 (with YESC Permission)
The typical load patterns are normalized by the daily peak power demand in summer season as illustrated in Fig.
4. Normally it is found that the two peak loading for 24 hours and Public customers occurs in the morning
(between 9 hour and 11 hour) when people usually cooks their foods and the commercial and industrial business
start, as well as at night time period (between 19 hour and 21 hour) whenpeople stay at home with high loading
percentage of air conditioners and other home appliances. For industrial customer class, the power loading
increases dramatically during the day time business hours because of the continuous manufacturing process. The
peak loading of the total Yangon load reaches 1005.7 MW at 10 hour in the morning while the off peak loading
is only 621.8 MW at 4hour in the evening. The peak loading of the industrial power consumption is 167.06 at 10
hour in the morning. This typical load can effectively represent the load behavior of total customer population.
After studying the daily load curves, the power load consumption of each district or that of each township can
be calculated. After comparing the power consumption with the distribution facilities‟ capacity, the future
project plans are estimated.

VI. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT (SI) PLAN

The maximum demand of the Yangon distribution network is around 900MW (about 60% of the national
demand) as of June 2013 and the power generation capacity nationwide is around 1500MW. During most of the
2000s, the Yangon City showed about 4% annual growth in power demand (GWh). With the prospect of
political reform since 2011, a huge wave of development and investment began. Power demand also surged.
From 2009 to 2010, the growth rate was 30% strong. Followed by 20% in fiscal year of 2011-2012, and 6% in
2012 -2013. The basic trend is forecasted between 11 % and 16% [5].Therefore,townships as well as head
departments must make a yearly plan or 5- year plan or 10 year plan etc. Mostly a yearly SI plan is drawn up for
System Improvement and Loss Reduction. In Yangon the reduction measure projects are yearly carried to
reduce the technical loss:

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  New substation planning and network configuration
 Upgrading and Reinforcement of 66kV Substation
 Upgrading and Reinforcement of 33kV Substation
 Installation of 66kV UG cables and OH lines
 Installation of 33kV UG cables and OH Lines
 Installation of 6.6 kV UG cables and OH lines
 Installation of 11 kV OH lines
 Installation of Capacitor Banks
 Installation of 0.4 kV UG cables and OH lines
Maintaining jobs for emergency cases, replacing jobs for broken poles with concrete poles, changing with
Insulated Wire projects, Transformer Maintaining projects, Maintenance projects for Substations and SI projects
in townships.

VII. NON-TECHNICAL LOSS REDUCTION

Non-Technical Losses are mainly related to electricity theft and customer management processes in which there
exist a number of means of consciously defrauding the electrical utility concerned [7]. In Yangon area, the most
portable causes of NTL are:
 Tampering with energy meters to ensure the meter recorded comparatively lower consumption reading
 Tapping of wires on LT lines
 Errors in technical losses computation
 Arranging false readings and ignoring unpaid bills by bribing meter readers
 Errors in accounting and recording meter reading and billing
Metering System Improvement Plan is first priority for non-technical loss reduction measure in Yangon.

7.1 One Phase Two Wire Metering System Improvement Plan

The measures are being conducted to reduce the non-technical loss, namely replacing old electromagnetic
energy meters with digital meters (Offsite meter reading system), controlling on theft of electricity by laws,
inspection
meters monthly and customer-friendly orientation. This issue is considered as a vital problem to be solved.
With the possible cases of unauthorized connection to random bare wires, various countermeasures were being
considered by sharing the cases of unauthorized power reception and performing visual inspections by the meter
reader or by installation the digital measuring instruments of the offsite meter reading to be mounted to the
power poles at the structures. In South Division in Yangon, single phase two wires OMR meters, nearly 25000
meters, were first introduced in place of old analog meters in 2013. There was generally 5 % loss reduction in
each township than before. Fig.5 shows Offsite meter reading mounted on a pole.

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Fig 5 Installation of 1 Phase 2 Wire Offsite Meters Mounted on a Pole (with YESC Permission)
In Yangon, one of the pilot Projects in Hlaing Township had been tried in 2012 for Automatic Meter Reading
(AMR) System that is provided with a transmitter/receiver module and it had to change LV bare conductor with
Arial Bundled Cable (ABC) Conductor. In this pilot project, 447 digital electronic meters were replaced in the
place of old analogue meters under feeding of 6.6/0.4kV, (315) kVA. Meters can be read via GSM (Global
Service for Mobile Communications) by using internet. But the facing difficulty is that internet services have
not yet developed in Yangon. Replacing the whole LV distribution system with ABC wire and AMR smart
meters leads to investment is high even though the losses reduced from 26 % to 3.6 %. Total material cost was
estimated $ 55649.95 for this project. Therefore it has to do an optimal cost analysis to develop AMR System.

7.2 Three Phase Four Wire Metering System Improvement Plan

New customer- metering investments can enhance the performance of distribution systems. The traditional
meters have been used strictly for billing purposes. In the traditional paradigm, meter readers visit customer
premises and manually read electromechanical energy meters (kWh meters) that measure electric energy
consumption. These meters are no longer economically available in the Yangon Division, having been replaced
by digital electronic meters, but many electromechanical meters are still in use today. Digital electronic meters
can more easily store and communicate energy consumption as a function of time. Offsite Meter Reading
(OMR) System has enabled distinct new approaches to data capture and management with respect to customers‟
consumption. In OMR System a meter reader go the site and then read meters far away 300 m with Hand Held
Unit (HHU) in which short-range radio –frequency signals is used. In Yangon 433MHz is used for Radio OMR
Meters. This means that non-technical losses is tried to mitigate by education workers on how to detect signs of
meter tampering and installing offsite meter reading (OMR) devices that read energy consumption information
remotely from electricity meters. By installationOMR meters, the wrong wire connection,no load condition and
tempering status can be checked. This system is used where the power consumption is very high such as
commercial industries and cold industries. But these efforts have been met with limited success.

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VIII. INVESTMENT PLAN FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

The load requirement of an area depends on its physical land features, its population and living standards, its
present development plans, future development plans, cost of power, budget allocation etc. [8]. In Yangon, the
new loan projects are needed to essentially be selected by following the flowchart process after all conditions of
facilities ( e.g., current facility operation rates, fault records, demand forecast, distribution network plan,
environmental and social consideration etc.) are surveyed. The individual projects in the 5-year distribution
network development and loss reduction plan, and latest investment plan can be developed to deal with
overload, demand increase, voltage drop, and supply to important distribution facilities according to the statics
of survey on current facilities conditions. The new projects depend on the demand record in the previous and the
alternative demand forecast. Fig.6 presents the formulation and Implementation of an investment project plan
for Yangon distribution system.

Fig6.Formulation and Implementation of an Investment Project Plan [5]

The following basic concepts can be concerned for improving the distribution networks facilities while
conducting the formulation and Implementation of an investment project plan:
 Measures against overload of facilities
(Strengthening sub-transmission and substation system, thereby the supply load will not exceed installed
capacity)
 Reduction of Power losses
(Improving distribution facilities, thereby the supply load will not exceed installed capacity)
 Measure against troubles
(Improving distribution facilities, thereby they will not cause troubles)
 Capacity building (Improving Capacity building of engineers, they can judge which is profit or loss )
The investment project plan has been also implemented on a priority basis for Yangon distribution System:

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  Medium and long term substation expansion plans
 Distribution System expansion plans
 Replacing and upgrading the distribution facilities in order to reduce loss and failures in distribution lines

IX. TRAINING FOR ENGINEERS

In some developing countries, employees‟ performance capability is needed to enhance capacity building
improvement and most of distribution engineers have to know how to run business in a better manner and how
to reduce losses. With regard to system upgrading and configuration, technical loss reduction, control on theft of
electricity, consumer - friendly orientation, establishing commercial viability of the distribution business,
information technology to replace human interface to the extent possible, the engineers should have the know-
how to formulate power distribution network and substation reinforcement plans with respect to the efficient
operations of substations and distribution lines and to minimize the effects of faults and power distribution loss.
Furthermore engineers should also know how to manage the non-technical loss reduction measures and the
latest news about distribution infrastructures. Therefore, the education and training need to support by
cooperation with the projects or by on-job training at vocational training center. The following are the
institutional profits for distribution engineers by cooperation with the investment projects:
 Enhancing the know-how of administration work necessary as an administrator of substationmaintenance
works or construction works by learning through practical trainings
 Enhancing the engineer‟s skills, such as planning, designing, administrating construction works, and
inspections, necessary when implementing distribution related projects
 Strengthening the engineer‟s capability of planning works so that one cope with the large amount of the
distribution line works
 Strengthening the engineer‟s ability to educate workers through on-the- job training taking advantage of
construction works
 Acquiring abilities to grasp the entire description of work of the projects and create systematic
constructionplans for reducing the frequency and areas of service interruption resulting from substation
and distribution line work
 Acquiring in-machine control and learn how to use and store the data of equipment (e.g., transformers,
low-voltage lines, meters, customers, etc.) of substations. Distribution lines and distribution facilities
when the construction is completed by following the renewal of facilities.

X. LOSS REDUCTION PROJECT AS TOWNSHIP WIDE

During the loss reduction projects plan, the main items to be conducted [9] are:
 Measuring and evaluating the losses with respect to technical, economic and accounting nature.
 Diagnosis allowing to determine the level and the origin of the losses
 Recommendations for proposing the actions to be undertaken to reduce losses to a tolerable level
 Implementation of tried methodologies, resulting in the drawing up of a schedule of actions to be carried
out and mark out the project

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 Determination of the economic profitablility criteria for the choice of the proposed actions
 Constitution a precise management system such as finicial and institutional terms
 Implementation of a maintenance program to maintain the results obtained
In Yangon, the Losses Reduction and improving the energy efficiency project has to be carried out as a
feasibility study in two townships, namely Insein and Shwe Pyi Thar. A compressive approach for distribution
loss reduction built on three aspects such as people, technical and management. In order to reduce losses
reduction, people should have willing to do these tasks, namely problem solving methodology, Root cause
Analysis as measurement, idea generation and work plan for priority and Implementation (Action and report). In
every reduction losses business process, every engineer working for any distribution company should have
knowledge of management as Key Performance Indicator. Therefore, the training system has to be set up for
developing awareness and desire to reduce losses.
As technical aspects, the following project process was carried out;
 Availability of Distribution Asset Data Base ( including meters data base)
 Smaller transformer capacity for low density area and more LV feeder for each transformer
 Mechanical connectors for better wire connection
 Balancing transformer loading
 Attention to voltage level at end-points
The loss reduction project steps are briefly described in the following:
Step 1. Field survey for fact finding
In Yangon it is needed to find out the needs and problems of electricity related to improving energy efficiency
and reduce losses, Fact Finding activities includes;
 Understanding the business process of YESC relating to power delivery
 Understanding the root of the problem/ root-cause of losses
Step 2. Diagnosis Phase
In the diagnosis phase, data collection operations are involved regarding a loss reduction project. The
technique of data collection covers following activities as a Root Cause Analysis and Solution (RCAS);
 Face to Face interview and discussion with head of office, engineers, staff officers (Finance & Admin)
about the process of township office.
 Visiting Field condition directly and sharing data within project areas
According to the results of these activities, several opportunities for improvement of distribution delivery
system can be taken. These opportunities are;
 To develop business process for billing system
 To develop customer handling system
 To improve meter reading system
 To improve service voltage to customers
 To improve LV distribution network connection
 To improve the balance of load transformer
 To improve the clearance of the network from the trees

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Step 3. Idea Generation or Brainstorming
Based on the several opportunities, the management teams have to discuss to generate a variety of new
approaches or solutions for the facing loss issue in distribution system by suggesting many different options and
suggesting an existing concept.
Step 4. Prioritization
In this phase, each team work has to decide/ determine what activities should be carried out regarding to ease of
implementation and economic aspects to provide optimal results of loss reduction. By choosing activities
intelligently from “wish lists ”, it can make the very most of time and opportunities , considering background
information, subsequent events, the responsible parties, costs and impact emerging and ease of implementation.
Step 5. Implementation of Work Plan
To manage the implementation of the ideas that has been defined, a work plan can be created. The work Plan
includes two parts: work development (e.g., administrative work) and work deployment (e.g., changing meters,
replacing connectors and pruning tree, and load balancing of distribution transformers.
Step 6. Monitoring and Evaluation
It focuses on what we have done according to work plan, on what we have achieved and how we accomplished
that work plans. Through monitoring and evaluation, the progress of the work plan can be reviewed, problems
can be identified and adjustments or correction of activities (if there is any problem or difficulty) can be made.
In this stage,management teams are always on the track. This monitoring and evaluation model makes sure the
achievement of the target at the top level.
Step 7. Implementation Results
The management team work carry out the following tasks;
 Connection Repairing
(To improve the quality of service voltage at end user by replacing/ fastening connector)
 Load Balancing
(To reduce significant neutral current)
 Meter Checking
(To check „0‟ unit energy consumption, too small energy consumption, unstable usage style etc.)
The result of above implementation of losses reduction project in Yangon was that average losses decrease
3.28% from average 23.64 % to 20.36% [9].

XI. CONCLUSION

The reduction of losses for distribution system in Yangon is a major priority for YESC as well as for their
community. In order to participate financially in the development of the power sector, it is needed to reach an
acceptable loss level. Therefore the management can organize the reduction of losses as an actual investment
project to be conducted over a period of several years. Management of loss reduction project has to conduct the
diagnosis of the existing situation of distribution system, identification of losses and the main causes of losses,
establishment of an action plan so as to reduce the detected losses, implementation of the action plan and
follow-up of the results obtained even though distribution andautomation control system has not yet developed.
YESC has to not only findto reduce the losses, but also try to continuously achieve reducing losses. This paper

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recommends the management of loss reduction plan based on the approaches of effective technical and
economical view reflected in an action plan for Yangon distribution system. If Implementation work is done
according to theproposed plans, it is targeted that the losses of Yangon are to reduce around 5% than the current
situation losses.

REFERENCES

[1] Department of Population, Ministry of Immigration and Population, “The Union Report: The 2014
Myanmar Population and Housing Census”, Census Report Volume 2, May 2015 available on
http://unstats.un.org / unsd/ demographic/census/Myanmar/MMR-2015-05.pd
[2] Aye San Dar Myo, “Infrastructure of Yangon City Electricity Supply Board”, July 2013 available
onhttp://www.youbuyfrance.com/medias/press/yesb_9_7_2013_31_55.pdf
[3] Jaswanti, T. Thakur, “Minimum Loss Configuration of Power Distribution System”, 2006 International
Conference on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems, IEEE Conference Publications, Pages: 1-6,
2006
[4] Emad S Ibrahim, “Management of loss reduction projects for power distribution systems”, Electric Power
Systems Research, Vol. 55, Issue. 1, pp. 49-56, July 2000
[5] Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., “A Survey Report for
Power Improvement Project in the Greater Yangon” , February 2014
[6] Ashfaq Husain, Electrical Power System, Fifth Edition (CBS Publishers & Distributors, India Binding
House, 2007)
[7] Abhishek Chauhan, Saurabh Rajvanshi, “Non- Technical Losses in Power System: A Review", 2013
International Conference on Power, Energy and Control (ICPEC), IEEE Conference Publications, pp. 558-
561, 2013
[8] A S PABLA, Electric Power Distribution, Sixth Edition (McGraw Hill Education (India) Publication,
2011)
[9] PT PLN (Persero) Indonesia, “Technical Final Report”, Book 1, May 2014

BIOGRAPHIES
Aung Tun Lin received his B.E degree in Electronics from Sittway Technological University, Myanmar in
2006. He is an Assistant Manager (Engineer) at Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation in Myanmar. His
interests include distribution system planning and management, Loss allocation, customer demand side
management, electricity market and Grid Interconnection of Solar Energy System. Presently he is pursuing his
Master in Alternate Hydro Energy Systems at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India.
S. N Singh received the PhD degree in 6 phase induction generator from Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee, India, in 2014.
Currently, he is a Senior Scientific Officer in Alternate Hydro Energy Center at Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee. His research areas include renewable energy, electrical machines, and rural electrification and
management.

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