Optimal placement and location of automatic and manual switches through linear programming to improve smart distribution systems reliability

Achieving an appropriate level of reliability in electrical distribution systems is one of the main goals toward smart distribution grid. Moreover, self-healing is a significant features of smart distribution grid. Self-healing can be improved through installation of remote-controlled switches, which leads to an increase in availability and reliability. Thus, it is important to install controllable equipment in distribution grid. In this paper, a mixed integer linear program (MIP) is introduced to allocate remote-controlled and manual switches. In addition, reliability-centered approach is considered to find the best arrangement of switches in distribution grid. A sensitivity analysis is conducted on maximum investment cost, leads to a comprehensive analysis on installation of switches in distribution grid. Moreover, the objective function includes investment cost, customer interruption cost and maintenance cost. The formulation is solved by CPLEX solver.