Continuity of supply in the portuguese distribution network and comparison with other European countries

In the present paper, the evolution of the continuity of supply in the Portuguese distribution network is analyzed considering different performance indices, such as the number and duration of planned and unplanned interruptions. For the unplanned interruptions, special attention is given to the contribution of exceptional events. The continuity of supply performance of the Portuguese distribution network is then compared with the European average performance. In addition, the different countries are clustered according to technical characteristics of their networks and the continuity of supply indicators of each cluster are compared. The main conclusions of the paper are (i) that the Portuguese distribution network has significantly improved its performance during the last 10 years and still has potential for improvement; and (ii) that technical characteristics, namely the degree of undergrounding, are an important determinant of technical quality measured by existing indices.