Improving outage restoration efforts using rule-based prediction and advanced analysis

Electric distribution companies are faced with increasing pressure to more effectively manage outages regardless of their source or nature. In pursuit of cost effective solutions, distribution owners/operators turn to decision-malting and process automation through information technology in the form of outage management systems (OMS). The foundation behind outage management systems is the accurate customer-to-electrical service model and reliable prediction of outage locations. This paper discusses the analysis techniques supporting outage management systems relevant to outage predictions, feeder reconfiguration, cold load pick-up, and the effect this has on operations management.