Smart fault indicators for advanced outage management of distribution systems

Distribution utilities are faced with stringent regulatory requirements to improve system reliability and resilience against power outages. To reduce outage time and protect power apparatuses, smart fault indicators (SFI) with communication capability are widely deployed for enhanced distribution automation. In this paper, the communication architecture for integration of SFIs into the distribution operating center is presented. The state of the art applications of SFIs in outage management are summarized. The potential benefits from SFIs are discussed in detail. Furthermore, a new optimization model based on linear integer programming is proposed to leverage SFIs for automatic identification of faulted line sections in distribution systems. The resulting algorithm can fast determine the fault scenario with multiple faults, incomplete SFI information, or malfunction of SFIs. By pinpointing the faulted line section on primary feeders or laterals in an accurate manner, outage duration is significantly reduced and system reliability is improved. Simulation results from the test case demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method to use SFIs for advanced outage management of distribution systems.