INTEGRATED PLANNING OF NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION PROGRAMS

This paper describes a comprehensive analytical process to plan the electrification of unsupplied urban centers over broad geographic areas. The analytic techniques are illustrated with a application in Ghana, West Africa, for which a 30-yr development program was devised to reach over 4000 urban communities. The planning process integrates traditional power planning technologies for generation and transmission systems with detailed planning of subtransmission extensions and distribution works within individual communities. As a consequence of the large number of extensions to be made over large geographic areas, and over several decades, it is necessary to utilize fast and very efficient methods to carry out studies. New computer-based methods for large data base management, in Computer-Aided Design(CAD), and in Geographic information Systems( GIS ) for mapping wer utilized in combination with established computer models used to carry out planning substudies.The substudies included load forecasting, and analysis and planning of the following power system components, both existing and future. - Medium voltage (MV) subtransmission - Low voltage(LV)distribution - High voltage (HV) transmission - Hydroelectric and thermal generation facilities - Economic characteristics of developments - Financial performance of power utilities The integration of the described analytic methods with data base management techniques, and CAD/GIS software have made analysis and planning of large and complex power systems practical and efficient.