Improvements to maintenance and operation practices to achieve better reliability in distribution network

Abstract

With the growing concerns on depletion of fossil fuels and enhancing demand for green energy the need of an alternative source of energy has arose. As a replacement to fossil fuel driven engines and machineries, electrically driven machineries and equipment have found way ahead. As a substitute to fossil fuel, electricity plays a vital role in supplying energy to world at present. With the enhancement of luxury living, the use of tools and machinery at home as well as in the industry, the man is forced to concern on the quality of electricity supply they receive. The concept of reliability is considered as one of the priorities of the electricity utilities in order to improve customer satisfaction. There are interruptions to power supply unexpectedly due to unavoidable circumstances as well as planned interruptions for system maintenance and construction work in the system. This project focuses on approaches for making the best use of outage data to plan interruptions for system maintenance work to minimize the frequency of interruptions and the duration of interruptions to improve reliability. The three power quality problems discussed here are the voltage sags, momentary interruptions and sustain interruptions caused by faults on the utility power system, with most of them on the distribution system. This project concentrates on distribution maintenance, operation and construction practices that can be used to minimize interruptions and their impact on customers in Western Province South-II. This project identifies the weaknesses of the existing operation and maintenance practices. Determine ways and means to minimize frequency of break downs and power failures to improve the quality of power supply and its reliability. Also propose remedial solutions to be taken for improving reliability of the system. Calculate reliability indices, System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) to assess the reliability level. Find solutions and propose remedial action to be taken to improve reliability of the system.