Reconfiguration of the real distribution network and providing a new resilience index, considering the uncertainty of renewable energy sources and digital protection devices in order to improve the resilience

• Published in: Electric power systems research Vol. 228; p. 110012
• Main Authors: Rezaei, Maryam Faghihi, Ghobadpour, Saman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2024
• Subjects: Distribution network; Dual-Setting digital directional overcurrent relays; Renewable energy sources; Resilience; Unavailability; Renewable energy sources; Unavailability; Dual-Setting digital directional overcurrent relays; Distribution network; Resilience
• ISSN: 0378-7796
• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsr.2023.110012

•The new resilience index, which includes the resilience indices of RESs and the unavailability index of DOCR and DS-DOCR digital relays, is presented independently.•The parameters of DOCR and DS-DOCR digital relays are optimized to reduce the total operating time of the relays and achieve protection coordination, taking into account the unavailability constraint of one of the digital relays due to their failure.•The unavailability constraint of DOCR and DS-DOCR digital relays is taken into account, it creates a better response and eventually improves the resilience in distribution networks. Electric energy, as the most widely used form of energy, has always captured human attention to itself; however, with the climate change and the increase of natural phenomena, it is now necessary to provide solutions to improve the resilience of the network. Resilience is defined as the capability of the system to maintain an acceptable level of performance against a severe disturbance and return to its original condition in an appropriate period of time, which demonstrates the degree of endurance, vulnerability, and reversibility of an infrastructure system. The occurrence of adverse weather conditions and natural disasters causes extensive losses and power outages in distribution networks; and the number and severity of such incidents have seen an increase in recent years. Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the resilience of the network and its reversibility capability in dealing with adverse weather conditions. In this paper, after defining the concept of resilience in distribution networks, its characteristics are determined; and then, modeling common natural events such as floods and storms, and introducing a new index to evaluate resilience in distribution networks with digital directional overcurrent relays (DOCR) and Digital dual-setting directional overcurrent relays (DS-DOCR) in the presence of renewable energy sources (RES), the proposed scheme is presented.