Evaluation and enhancement of reliability of electrical distribution system in the presence of dispersed generation

The distribution system is part of the electric power system that links the bulk transmission system and the individual customers. Modern Power systems are smart, interconnected, interdependent, load sharing and phased mission systems. Reliability of such complex power systems is very important in design, planning, installation and maintenance to provide electrical energy as economical as possible with an acceptable degree of reliability. In this paper, an analytical methodology for reliability evaluation and enhancement of electrical distribution systems is described and further an innovative cost effect index to improve the reliability of power systems is developed. The developed algorithm has been implemented on a sample distribution system, where distribution system reliability indices are calculated for an existing system without Dispersed Generation (DG) and compared to those calculated for the same system with some DG units running in parallel with the system. The results demonstrate that DG does improve the reliability of the distribution system.