Integrated Outage Management With Feeder Restoration for Distribution Systems With DERs

The increasing deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs) and microgrids benefits power grids by improving system resilience. In a resilience mode without the utility system, the distribution grid relies on DERs to serve critical load. In such a severe event with multiple faults on the distribution feeders, actuation of various protective devices (PDs) divides the distribution system into electrical islands. The undetected actuated PDs due to fault current contributions from DERs can delay the restoration process, thereby reducing the system resilience. In this paper, algorithms are proposed for outage management and feeder restoration for distribution systems with multiple DERs. The Advanced Outage Management (AOM) identifies the faulted sections and actuated PDs in a distribution system with DERs by incorporating smart meter data. The Advanced Feeder Restoration (AFR) is proposed to restore a distribution system with available energy resources taking into consideration the availability of utility sources and DERs as well as the feeder configuration. By partitioning the system into islands, critical load will be served with the available generation resources within islands. When the utility systems become available, the optimal path will be determined to reconnect these islands back to substations and restore the remaining load. The proposed method has been validated with modified IEEE 123-Bus and 8500-Node Test Feeders. Simulation results demonstrate the capability of the integrated AOM and AFR to enhance distribution system resilience.