Industry trends: Incorporating reliability goals in the distribution planning process

Summary form only given. Assessing and incorporating reliability goals in distribution planning has been a challenge for the industry for years. In essence both distribution reliability and distribution planning projects have the same goal: to serve load. However, action plans to meet the goal, at times, are different and, during tough economic times, these plans compete for resources, particularly budgetary resources. Delivering a plan that incorporates meeting reliability goals in distribution planning is crucial, especially during times of an economic recession. This paper will discuss how distribution reliability plans are used in the improvement of the distribution planning process at Southern California Edison.