Value-based distribution feeder automation planning

In a competitive electric energy market, service quality and reliability are two of the essential issues of the business. Distribution automation has been chosen by many utilities around the world as one of the most reliable measures for reducing outage time in their distribution networks. Considering network reliability data and the customer interruption costs, a value-based planning method is proposed in this paper to find the optimal numbers and locations of switches in feeder automation systems. The proposed method takes reliability costs, maintenance and investment costs into account to obtain a feeder automation plan that has a maximum benefit and a proper system reliability requirement. Three stages are involved in the search for optimal solution. Using minimum feeder data and assume equally distributed feeder loads, stage 1 gives initial estimates of reliability indices and costs, and benefit/cost ratios of different feeder automation options. To gain the maximum benefits from feeder automation with reasonable costs, results of stage 1 are used to select feeders with highest priorities for automations. Stage 2 determines the optimum locations of switches that minimize feeder outage costs, and in stage 3, the best locations for tie switches in the automated network are determined. Numerical processing procedure is described and the solution efficiency and results are compared with those obtained from a genetic algorithm.