Reliability cost/worth assessment of distribution systems incorporating time-varying weather conditions and restoration resources

This paper presents a time-sequential simulation technique incorporating the effects of weather conditions and restoration resources in reliability cost/worth evaluation of distribution systems. Time-varying weight factors (TVWF) are introduced to represent the effects on component failure rates and restoration times of weather and available restoration resources. The average failure rate is combined with the TVWF to create time-varying failure rates (TVFRs) for each component. The average restoration time is combined with the TVWF to create time-varying restoration times (TVRTs). Studies conducted in a test distribution system show that the TVFR have large impacts on the interruption costs of frequency-sensitive customers and slight effects on others. The TVRT have significant effects on the indices for all the customers. It is therefore important to consider TVRT in evaluating reliability cost/worth of network reinforcement.