Automation of disconnecting switches of a radial feeder based on reliability and cost indices

In modern power system network, the outage of electric power for a small period of time can effect more on the economic status of customer and utility. Hence, it is necessary to minimize the cost of interruption by reducing the outage duration. One of the ways to reduce the outage duration is by adopting the distribution automation. In complete automation system, all the disconnecting switches are placed under remote control, whereas in partial automation, only some of the disconnecting switches are placed under remote control. In case of partial automation at a desired intensity level, it is necessary to select the best possible combination of disconnecting switches to minimize the cost of interruption. In this paper, Expected Customer Interruption Cost (ECOST) based on reliability indices are evaluated for different automation intensity levels of an Indian utility system and the best combination of disconnecting switches is selected in each level.