Power distribution asset management

The principal objective of the asset management in a power distribution utility enterprise (DUE) is to guide the acquisition, use and disposal of distribution system assets to provide the level of service required by customers in the cost-effective manner, encompassing the strategic planning, maintenance and utilization and operation of a physical resource throughout its life. This study categorizes the asset management strategies of a (DUE) based on short-term, mid-term and long-term timescales and shows that their coordination plays a critical role in making strategic decisions. Short-term asset management is related with operational issues. Secure and reliable operation of the network, system monitoring and control, fault restoration are among the issues discussed in the paper. The issues regarding the maintenance of assets including the optimal maintenance strategy and optimal outage plan are presented under the title of mid-term asset management. Finally, strategic planning is discussed, where distributed generation (DG) is evaluated in the context of long-term system planning strategy. The utilization of information technologies (IT) plays a central role in the asset management of a DUE in all timescales.