Reliability Improvement of Power Distribution Systems using Advanced Distribution Automation

Towards the complete vision of smarter distribution grid, advanced distribution automation system (ADAS) is one of the major players in this area. In this scope, this paper introduces a generic strategy for cost-effective implementation and evaluation of ADAS. Along with the same line, fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR) is one of the most beneficial and desirable applications of ADAS for self-healing and reliability improvement. Therefore, a local-centralized-based FLISR (LC-FLISR) architecture is implemented on a real, urban, underground medium voltage distribution network. For the investigated network, the complete procedure and structure of the LC-FLISR are presented. Finally, the level of reliability improvement and customers’ satisfaction enhancement are evaluated. The results are presented in the form of a comparative study between the proposed automated and non-automated distribution networks. The results show that the automated network with proposed ADAS has a considerable benefit through a significant reduction in reliability indices. In addition, it has remarkable benefits observed from increasing customers’ satisfaction and reducing penalties from industry regulators.