Measurement of Power
Losses
Losses Measurement
Measurement of Distribution Network Losses
• Distribution Network Losses are defined as the difference between the energy entering and exiting an
electrical network. The measurement method reflects this definition :
ENERGY LOSSES = SUM of ENTERING ENERGIES – SUM of EXITING ENERGIES
• ENTERING ENERGIES = All the electrical flows entering the network
Energy flows from TSO or DSO
Energy flows from embedded generators on DSO networks (local DG)
• EXITING ENERGIES = All the electrical flows exiting the network for consumption purposes
Energy flows to TSO or DSO
Measured or estimated energy flows from contracted sites (in-house consumption, public lighting.)
Losses Measurement
• Concrete application
The practical losses are directly calculated from the relevant energy balance, either financial (with a global
difference between accounting volumes) or physical with some network measurements. Globally speaking,
the energy settlement process makes the comparison between global network measurements energies and
global customer billed energies :
Losses Measurement
Definition Calculation
ENTERING ENERGIES = Raw network measurements, or – if available –
All the electrical flows entering the contracted energies between TSO and DSO (or between 2
network DSOs)
EXITING ENERGIES = The energies shall be properly accounted either with raw
All the electrical flows exiting the network measurements or with billed energies, including energy
for consumption purposes estimations (missing values, non-metered flows, …)
GLOBAL LOSSES Following this definition, losses can constitute a specific
energy balance sheet in settlement process, with all
energies non-attributed to any actor.
Losses Measurement
Measurement of TL-NTL detail
• The definition in the previous part of this report proposes to split the global losses into technical and
non-technical losses. The measurement method reflects this definition, with a 2-step calculation :
Step 1 = evaluation of Technical Losses by a specific physical model
Step 2 = calculation of Non Technical Losses by difference between Global Losses
Losses Measurement
Measurement of losses factors
• The 3rd definition refers to the factors, that explains the global level of both technical and nontechnical
losses. It represents a non-exhaustive list that may follow the evolution of distribution network
activities:
On technical losses : new low loss materials, DG impact on losses, Etc.
On non-technical losses : “smart” processes, NTL mitigation activity, …
Losses Measurement
• Concrete application
• The main factors for non-technical losses can often be ascertained through an analysis of DSO
processes. However, it is much more difficult to evaluate the level of each factor of losses factor.
• Two different approaches may help sharing energies according to this “losses factors” definition:
1) A “by-difference” approach with a part of energy losses energy that would remain unassigned (or
assigned to a “undefined / other” sector)
2) An “homothetic“ approach with a sharing of global losses energy in proportion of the “identified
factors” energies
• Practically, the preferable approach depends on the type of losses (TL or NTL).
