Vélez-Sepúlveda, Tomás E.

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    Economic evaluation of feeder automation in a distribution system
    (2011) Vélez-Sepúlveda, Tomás E.; Orama-Exclusa, Lionel R.; College of Engineering; O’Neill-Carrillo, Efraín; Ramírez-Orquín, Alberto; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Basir-Shafiq, Abdul
    The absence of economic justification is one of the leading barriers for the integration of feeder automation systems into distribution networks. These systems may require substantial capital investments from utilities, but the benefits obtained from them, mainly enhanced service reliability, could outweigh the costs of the associated equipment. Utilities, aware of the economic impact that service reliability has on distribution networks and its customers, are incorporating the monetary value that customers place on service reliability into economic evaluations to justify feeder automation investments. This project presents a reliability economic analysis method that can be used to evaluate the integration of feeder automation devices into Puerto Rico’s distribution system. The application of this method is demonstrated using data from a hypothetical distribution feeder and the proposed installation of four automatic sectionalizing switches. Project costs, quantifiable reliability benefits, and benefit-cost ratio calculations are presented. Also, the effect of parameter changes on the benefit-cost ratio is evaluated. The results show that the installation of the automatic devices is justified as the economic life, feeder failure rate, average load, and energy cost increase on the feeder under study.