Using a GIS and DLE for reduction of outage time in distribution networks

The reduction of customer interruption due to failures in the distribution network is one of the leading priorities of power companies, which are working in market driven environment. The faults in the distribution network determine the distribution system reliability level and service quality, and they are the source of complains and customers´ dissatisfaction. The reduction of customer interruption is of a significant importance for extremely loaded distribution systems. On the other hand, the utilization of full capacity of the lines and transformers is the common challenge in the operation of distribution system in a market environment. How to reduce the service interruption duration and customer outage costs when a failure occurs in the medium voltage network will be presented in this paper. By using the geographic information system (GIS) and distribution state estimation (DLE) the dispatcher is enabled to make a decision how to proceed with switching operation to redistribute the load of the customers that are in the fault area to the neighboring feeders.