HV distribution network supply restoration

HV distribution networks are generally of radial form and consist of a large number of elements. This gives rise to many possibilities of outages which can lead to large numbers of customer disconnections. Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) aim to improve automatic, post-fault outage restoration of 11kV networks to minimize disconnections and disconnection times. Several approaches have been proposed to address this issue but limitations arise due to the sparse information of voltage and current available on such networks. The restoration strategy should, where possible, restore the maximum number of customers, whilst maintaining the integrity of the network. In order for automatic systems to operate, voltage and current measurements must be obtained from various points of the network for analysis during pre-outage and post-outage. The present work assumes that remote voltage and current measurements are available throughout the network and A novel post-fault restoration algorithm is proposed and applied to a real 11kV distribution network. Details of the load restoration strategies used that are based on (i) Upstream Load Restoration (ULR) and (ii) Downstream Load Restoration (DLR) are described, and the performance of the network feeders post-restoration analyzed.