Control-center-based automatic fault isolation and restoration system for rural medium voltage networks

In severe weather conditions when many fault interruptions are simultaneously ongoing in overhead line networks, control center operators are overworked because of heavily increased dispatching tasks. At the latest when outage statistics reveal that the first corrective switching actions repetitiously take too long, a new cost-effective distribution automation tool to pursue SAIDI reduction should be introduced. This paper presents the principles of a new control-center-based automation system (called FUIR) for rural medium voltage networks. A proof of concept is enclosed to provide an overview, key results and user experiences of the first implementation at Elenia Oy.