Reliability and contingency criteria for planning

The best way to address reliability in distribution planning is to use it directly as a criterion in the evaluation of various alternatives. In this approach, frequency and duration of service interruption are computed for each potential alternative design (using a reliability analysis method) and compared to corporate reliability criteria to assure compliance of all new designs, additions and operating changes. The corporate reliability criteria set goals for the expected average frequency and duration of outages on any part of the system, as well as an upper limit on the worst case reliability that will be allowed for any one customer.