Penetration level of Capacitor Coupling Sub-station on a power transmission network

Generally, rural areas in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) have low concentration of electrical energy users. As a result, most power utility will not be able to generate an adequate return on investment necessary to install a conventional distribution sub-station on the transmission line. Consequently, costs related to the deployment of a conventional distribution sub-station are prohibitive for most rural electrification projects. In order to address the drawback associated with costs of a conventional substation, a relatively small Capacitor Coupling Substation (CCS) which taps power from high voltage transmission lines and can be located close to or underneath extra high voltage transmission may be used. This paper investigates the penetration level of these Substations on a 220kV, 440km power transmission network of the Kenya Electricity Supply Industry (KESI). The objective or contribution is to establish the optimum penetration level of the technology with regard to cost, reliability, performance and local conditions.