Utilisation of static circuit breakers in loop distribution systems for reliability improvement

Nowadays electric utility companies are expected to provide the customers with a level of quality and reliability higher than in the past To improve the service on medium voltage (LV) and low voltage (LV) distribution networks the electric utilities ought to employ new electronic and information technologies, which are quite widespread in industrial plants but not as much in electric utilities due to the high ratio between costs and benefits. In this work an optimised management of looped distribution system with solid-state current limiting circuit breakers and Distribution Automation Control (DAC) is studied, emphasising the possibility to increase the reliability of the system. First an innovative management of the looped distribution system is proposed; then a comparison in terms of reliability and Customer Interruption Costs (COC) among different system configurations with traditional and innovative devices is carried on. In conclusion the paper highlights the opportunity of accounting for customer marginal benefits as factor for effective power system planning design and operation, especially when innovative technologies are adopted.