Evaluating the impact of information and communication technologies on network reliability

The main drive of utilities is to provide economic, reliable and high quality electrical power to customers while assisting the de-carbonization of the electricity sector by enabling the connection of continuously increasing renewable energy sources as efficiently as possible. These challenges increase the power flows in a power network, which in turn requires further reinforcement and optimization. To address the increased power flow, smart grids are implemented utilizing more information and communication technologies (ICT). This paper investigates the impact of ICT on the network via their implementation in Time Varying Line Rating (TVLR). Thus, it suggests a combined “network-component design” methodology, based on Sequential Monte Carlo, which allows investigating the impact of ICT failures on network reliability, with branches that employ TVLR. A study on the IEEE-RTS 96 network indicates that ICT failures in TVLR-ICT implementation increase the interruption frequency of load, reducing its overall quality of supply. With ICT failures a 3.5% increase in energy not supplied is calculated under both overhead line and underground cable network analyses.