Implementation of Hour-by-Hour Restoration Plan for Electrical Distribution Networks to improve Network Resiliency

After extreme natural events like earthquakes, storms, and floods, the electrical distribution network may be isolated from the upstream grid. In such a situation, the electrical power of the upstream grid is lost and the available microgrids (MGs) are the only power sources. Since the power outputs of MGs are restricted, restoring all de-energized loads is impossible and restoring critical loads (CLs) becomes the most important concern of the distribution network operators. Therefore, in this paper, a new hour-by-hour restoration strategy for CLs restoration after a blackout is proposed. The desired objective functions include restored energy and switching operations. The proposed restoration strategy presents a restoration plan for each hour of the outage period. The efficiency of the proposed strategy is carried out on an IEEE 123-bus distribution network and the simulation results confirm the superiority of the proposed hour-by-hour restoration strategy over the other conventional restoration methods.