Electric Power Distribution Reliability Second Edition pdf

Electric Power
Distribution Reliability
Second Edition
7567_FM.indd 1 7/29/08 10:36:16 AM
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
POWER ENGINEERING
Series Editor
H. Lee Willis
Quanta Technology
Raleigh, North Carolina
Advisory Editor
Muhammad H. Rashid
University of West Florida
Pensacola, Florida
1. Power Distribution Planning Reference Book,
H. Lee Willis
2. Transmission Network Protection: Theory and Practice,
Y. G. Paithankar
3. Electrical Insulation in Power Systems,
N. H. Malik,
A. A. Al-Arainy, and M. I. Qureshi
4. Electrical Power Equipment Maintenance and Testing,
Paul Gill
5. Protective Relaying: Principles and Applications,
Second Edition,
J. Lewis Blackburn
6. Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation,
Lorrin Philipson and H. Lee Willis
7. Electrical Power Cable Engineering,
William A. Thue

8. Electric Systems, Dynamics, and Stability with Artificial
Intelligence Applications,
James A. Momoh
and Mohamed E. El-Hawary
9. Insulation Coordination for Power Systems,
Andrew R. Hileman
10. Distributed Power Generation: Planning and Evaluation,
H. Lee Willis and Walter G. Scott
11. Electric Power System Applications of Optimization,
James A. Momoh
12. Aging Power Delivery Infrastructures,
H. Lee Willis,
Gregory V. Welch, and Randall R. Schrieber
13. Restructured Electrical Power Systems: Operation, Trading,
and Volatility,
Mohammad Shahidehpour
and Muwaffaq Alomoush
14. Electric Power Distribution Reliability
, Richard E. Brown
15. Computer-Aided Power System Analysis,
Ramasamy Natarajan
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
16. Power System Analysis: Short-Circuit Load Flow
and Harmonics,
J. C. Das
17. Power Transformers: Principles and Applications,
John J. Winders, Jr.
18. Spatial Electric Load Forecasting: Second Edition,
Revised and Expanded,

H. Lee Willis
19. Dielectrics in Electric Fields,
Gorur G. Raju
20. Protection Devices and Systems for High-Voltage
Applications,
Vladimir Gurevich
21. Electrical Power Cable Engineering, Second Edition,
William Thue
22. Vehicular Electric Power Systems: Land, Sea, Air,
and Space Vehicles,
Ali Emadi, Mehrdad Ehsani,
and John Miller
23. Power Distribution Planning Reference Book,
Second Edition,
H. Lee Willis
24. Power System State Estimation: Theory and
Implementation,
Ali Abur
25. Transformer Engineering: Design and Practice,
S.V. Kulkarni and S. A. Khaparde
26. Power System Capacitors,
Ramasamy Natarajan
27. Understanding Electric Utilities and De-regulation:
Second Edition,
Lorrin Philipson and H. Lee Willis
28. Control and Automation of Electric Power Distribution
Systems,
James Northcote-Green and Robert G. Wilson
29. Protective Relaying for Power Generation Systems,
Donald Reimert

30. Protective Relaying: Principles and Applications,
Third Edition,
J. Lewis Blackburn and Thomas J. Domin
31. Electric Power Distribution Reliability, Second Edition,
Richard E. Brown
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Electric Power
Distribution
Reliability
Second Edition
Richard E. Brown
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Boca Raton London New York
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC



vii

Contents







Series Introduction xi

Preface xiii

Author xvii

1. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 1
1.1. Generation, Transmission, and Distribution 1
1.2. Distribution Substations 8
1.3. Primary Distribution Systems 15
1.4. Secondary Distribution Systems 26
1.5. Load Characteristics 28
1.6. Distribution Operations 33
1.7. Study Questions 38
References 38

2. RELIABILITY METRICS AND INDICES 41
2.1. Power Quality, Reliability, and Availability 41
2.2. Reliability Indices 51
2.3. Customer Cost of Reliability 82
2.4. Reliability Targets 90

2.5. History of Reliability Indices 97
2.6. Study Questions 102
References 102
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
viii Contents




3. INTERRUPTION CAUSES 107
3.1. Equipment Failures 107
3.2. Animals 127
3.3. Severe Weather 133
3.4. Trees 150
3.5. Human Factors 155
3.6. Most Common Causes 157
3.7. Study Questions 159
References 159

4. COMPONENT MODELING 163
4.1. Component Reliability Parameters 163
4.2. Failure Rates and Bathtub Curves 165
4.3. Probability Distribution Functions 167
4.4. Fitting Curves to Measured Data 176
4.5. Component Reliability Data 182
4.6. Study Questions 188
References 188

5. SYSTEM MODELING 191

5.1. System Events and System States 192
5.2. Event Independence 195
5.3. Network Modeling 196
5.4. Markov Modeling 200
5.5. Analytical Simulation for Radial Systems 206
5.6. Analytical Simulation for Network Systems 232
5.7. Monte Carlo Simulation 241
5.8. Other Methodologies 258
5.9. Study Questions 261
References 262

6. SYSTEM ANALYSIS 265
6.1. Model Reduction 265
6.2. System Calibration 272
6.3. System Analysis 277
6.4. Improving Reliability 285
6.5. Storm Hardening 301
6.6. Conversion of Overhead to Underground 307
6.7. Economic Analysis 317
6.8. Marginal Benefit-to-Cost Analysis 325
6.9. Comprehensive Example 333
6.10. Study Questions 356
References 357
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Contents ix

7. SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION 361

7.1. Overview of Optimization 361
7.2. Discrete Optimization Methods 371
7.3. Knowledge-Based Systems 385
7.4. Optimization Applications 392
7.5. Final Thoughts on Optimization 418
7.6. Study Questions 421
References 422

8. AGING INFRASTRUCTURE 425

8.1. Equipment Aging 425
8.2. Equipment Age Profiles 426
8.3. Population Aging Behavior 428
8.4. Age and Increasing Failure Rates 432
8.5. Inspection, Repair, and Replacement 438
8.6. State of the Industry 441
8.7. Final Thoughts 450
8.8. Study Questions 451
References 452

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC



xi

Series Introduction



Power engineering is the oldest and most traditional of the various areas within
electrical engineering, yet no other facet of modern technology is currently un-
dergoing a more dramatic revolution in technology or business structure. Perhaps
the most fundamental change taking place in the electric utility industry is the
move toward a quantitative basis for the management of service reliability. Tra-
ditionally, electric utilities achieved satisfactory customer service quality through
the use of more or less “one size fits all situations” standards and criteria that
experience had shown would lead to no more than an acceptable level of trouble
on their system. Tried and true, these methods succeeded in achieving acceptable
service quality.
But evolving industry requirements changed the relevance of these methods
in two ways. First, the needs of modern electric energy consumers changed.
Even into the early 1980s, very short (less than 10 second) interruptions of
power had minimal impact on most consumers. Then, utilities routinely per-
formed field switching of feeders in the early morning hours, creating 10-second
interruptions of power flow that most consumers would not even notice. But
where the synchronous-motor alarm clocks of the 1960s and 1970s would just
fall a few seconds behind during such interruptions, modern digital clocks, mi-
croelectronic equipment and computers cease working altogether. Homeowners
of the 1970s woke up the next morning—not even knowing or caring—that their

alarm clocks were a few seconds behind. Homeowners today wake up minutes or
hours late, to blinking digital displays throughout their home. In this and in many
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Series Introduction




xii

other ways, the widespread use of digital equipment and automated processes
has redefined the term “acceptable service quality” and has particularly in-
creased the importance of interruption frequency as a measure of utility perform-
ance.
Second, while the traditional standards-driven paradigm did achieve satisfac-
tory service quality in most cases, it did not do so at the lowest possible cost. In
addition, it had no mechanism for achieving reliability targets in a demonstrated
least-cost manner. As a result, in the late 20
th
century, electric utility manage-
ment, public utility regulators, and energy consumers alike realized there had to
be a more economically effective way to achieve satisfactory reliability levels of
electric service. This was to engineer the system to provide the type of reliability
needed at the lowest possible cost, creating a need for rigorous, quantitative reli-
ability analysis and engineering methods—techniques capable of “engineering
reliability into a system” in the same way that capacity or voltage regulation tar-
gets had traditionally been targeted and designed to.
Many people throughout the industry contributed to the development of what
are today the accepted methods of reliability analysis and predictive design. But
none contributed as much to either theory, or practice, as Richard Brown. His

work is the foundation of modern power distribution reliability engineering. It is
therefore with great pride that I welcome this book as the newest addition to the
CRC Press series on Power Engineering. This is all the more rewarding to me
because for the past decade Richard Brown has been one of my most trusted co-
workers and research collaborators, and a good friend.
Dr. Brown’s book lays out the rules and structure for modern power distribu-
tion reliability engineering in a rigorous yet accessible manner. While scrupu-
lously correct in theory and mathematics, his book provides a wealth of practical
experience and useful knowledge that can be applied by any electric power engi-
neer to improve power distribution reliability performance. Thus, Electric Power
Distribution Reliability fits particularly well into the theme of the Power Engi-
neering series, which focuses on providing modern power technology in a con-
text of proven, practical application—books useful as references as well as for
self-study and classroom use. I have no doubt that this book will be the reference
in power delivery reliability engineering for years to come.
Good work, Richard.

H. Lee Willis


© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC



xiii

Preface



Distribution reliability is one of the most important topics in the electric power
industry due to its high impact on the cost of electricity and its high correlation
with customer satisfaction. The breadth and depth of issues relating to this sub-
ject span nearly every distribution company department including procurement,
operations, engineering, planning, rate making, customer relations, and regula-
tory. Due in large part to its all-encompassing nature, distribution reliability has
been difficult for utilities to address in a holistic manner. Most departments, if
they address reliability at all, do so in isolation without considering how their
actions may relate to those in different parts of the company—an understandable
situation since there has been no single reference that covers all related issues
and explains their interrelationships. This book is an attempt to fill this void by
serving as a comprehensive tutorial and reference book covering all major topics
related to distribution reliability. Each subject has been extensively researched
and referenced with the intent of presenting a balance of theory, practical knowl-
edge, and practical applications. After reading this book, readers will have a
basic understanding of distribution reliability issues and will know how these
issues have affected typical utilities in the past. Further, readers will be knowl-
edgeable about techniques capable of addressing reliability issues and will have
a basic feel for the results that can be expected from their proper application.
Electric Power Distribution Reliability is intended for engineering profes-
sionals interested in the topic described by its title. Utility distribution planners

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Preface




xiv

and reliability engineers will find it of greatest use, but it also contains valuable
information for design engineers, dispatchers, operations personnel, and mainte-
nance personnel. Because of its breadth, this book may also find use with
distribution company directors and executives, as well as with state regulatory
authorities. It is intended to be a scholarly work and is suitable for use with sen-
ior or graduate level instruction as well as for self-instruction.
This book is divided into eight chapters. Although each is a self-contained
topic, the book is written so that each chapter builds upon the knowledge of prior
chapters. As such, this book should be read through sequentially upon first en-
counter. Terminology and context introduced in prior chapters are required
knowledge to fully comprehend and assimilate subsequent topics. After an initial
reading, this book will serve well as a refresher and reference volume and has a
detailed index to facilitate the quick location of specific material.
The first chapter, “Distribution Systems,” presents fundamental concepts,
terminology, and symbology that serve as a foundation of knowledge for reliabil-
ity-specific topics. It begins by describing the function of distribution systems in
the overall electric power system. It continues by describing the component and
system characteristics of substations, feeders, and secondary systems. The chap-
ter concludes by discussing issues associated with load characteristics and
distribution operations.
The second chapter, “Reliability Metrics and Indices,” discusses the various
aspects of distribution reliability and defines terms that are frequently used later

in the book. It begins at a high level by discussing power quality and its relation-
ship to reliability. Standard reliability indices are then presented along with
benchmark data and a discussion of their benefits and drawbacks. The chapter
continues by discussing reliability from the customer perspective including the
customer cost of interrupted electrical service and the customer surveys used to
obtain this information. The chapter ends with a discussion of reliability targets
and the industry trend towards performance-based rates, reliability guarantees,
and customer choice.
Remembering that reliability problems are caused by real events, Chapter 3
provides a comprehensive discussion of all major causes of customer interrup-
tions. It begins by describing the most common types of equipment failures and
their associated failure modes, incipient failure detection possibilities, and fail-
ure prevention strategies. It then discusses reliability issues associated with
animals, presents animal data associated with reliability, and offers recommenda-
tions to mitigate and prevent animal problems. The chapter continues by
discussing severe weather including wind, lightning, ice storms, heat storms,
earthquakes, and fires. Human causes are the last interruption category ad-
dressed, including operating errors, vehicular accidents, dig-ins, and vandalism.
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Preface




xv


To place all of this information in perspective, the chapter concludes by discuss-
ing the most common interruption causes experienced by typical utilities.
The analytical section of this book begins in Chapter 4, “Component Model-

ing.” The chapter starts by defining the component reliability parameters that
form the basis of all reliability models. It then discusses basic modeling concepts
such as hazard functions, probability distribution functions, and statistics. It ends
by providing component reliability data for a wide variety of distribution equip-
ment, which can be used both as a benchmark for custom data or as generic data
in lieu of custom data.
The topic of component reliability modeling leads naturally into the next
chapter, “System Modeling.” This chapter begins with a tutorial on basic system
analysis concepts such as states, Venn diagrams, network modeling, and Markov
modeling. The bulk of the chapter focuses on analytical and Monte Carlo simula-
tion methods, which are the recommended approaches for most distribution
system reliability assessment needs. Algorithms are presented with detail suffi-
cient for the reader to implement models in computer software, and reflect all of
the major system issues associated with distribution reliability. For complete-
ness, the chapter concludes by presenting reliability analysis techniques
commonly used in other fields and discusses their applicability to distribution
systems.
The sixth chapter, “System Analysis,” focuses on how to use the modeling
concepts developed in the previous two chapters to improve system reliability. It
begins with the practical issues of actually creating a system model, populating it
with default data and calibrating it to historical data. It then presents techniques
to analyze the system model including visualization, risk analysis, sensitivity
analyses, root-cause analysis, and loading analysis. One of the most important
topics of the book comes next: strategies to improve reliability and how to quan-
tify their impact by incorporating them into component and system models. This
includes the nontraditional topics of underground conversion and storm harden-
ing. The chapter then discusses how to view reliability improvement projects
from a value perspective by presenting the basics of economic analysis and the
prioritization method of marginal benefit-to-cost analysis. The chapter concludes
with a comprehensive example that shows how system analysis techniques can

be applied to improve the reliability of an actual distribution system.
Since most distribution companies would like to optimize the reliability of
their distribution system, this book continues with a chapter on system optimiza-
tion. It begins by discussing common misconceptions about optimization and
continues by showing how to properly formulate an optimization problem. It
then presents several optimization methods that are particularly suitable for dis-
tribution system reliability. Finally, the chapter presents several practical
applications of reliability optimization and discusses potential barriers that might
© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Preface




xvi

be encountered when attempting to implement a reliability optimization initiative
that spans many distribution company departments and budgets.
This book concludes with a chapter on aging infrastructure and the impact of
aging infrastructure on reliability. It begins by discussing equipment and popula-
tion aging, and when age can be used as a reasonable proxy for equipment
condition. The chapter continues by discussing how failure rates increase as a
function of age. This includes techniques to develop age-versus-failure models
using data available at most utilities. The book concludes by presenting the state
of the industry in terms of equipment age; US distribution systems are surpris-
ingly old, are getting older, and will become less reliability as a result. As such,
the topics covered in this book will become increasingly important in the next
decade. Utilities will have to spend increasingly more money just to keep reli-
ability from getting worse. Using the techniques described in this book, utilities
can ensure that this reliability spending is done so that the highest level of reli-

ability can be attained for the lowest possible cost.
The second edition of Electric Power Distribution Reliability is the product
of approximately fifteen years of effort in various aspects of electric power dis-
tribution reliability. I would like to thank the following people for teaching,
collaborating, and supporting me during this time. In the academic world, I
would like to thank Dr. Mani Venkata, Dr. Richard Christie, and Dr. Anil Pahwa
for their insight, guidance and support. In industry, I would like to acknowledge
the contributions and suggestions of my co-workers at with special thanks to Dr.
Damir Novosel, Mr. Lee Willis, and Mr. Jim Burke, all IEEE Fellows. Last, I
would like to offer special thanks to my wife Christelle and to our four children
for providing the inspiration and support without which this book would not be
possible.

Richard E. Brown

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC



xvii



Author

Richard E. Brown is the Vice President of Operations and co-founder for Quanta
Technology, a firm specializing in technical and management consulting for
electric utilities. He has previously worked at Jacobs Engineering, ABB, and
KEMA. During his career, Dr. Brown has developed several generations of reli-
ability assessment software programs, has provided consulting services to most

major utilities in the United States and many around the world, and has pub-
lished more than 90 technical papers. In 2007, Dr. Brown was made an IEEE
Fellow for “contributions to distribution system reliability and risk assessment.”
He earned his BSEE, MSEE, and PhD degrees from the University of Washing-
ton in Seattle, and his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. He is a registered professional engineer.
Dr. Brown lives in Cary, North Carolina with his wife and four children.

© 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC