Renewal Planning of Aged Distribution Networks

This paper provides an approach to the problem of power distribution network renewal planning where the challenge to the decision maker is to determine the most cost- effective multi-year development plan in terms of what feeders in the network to refurbish, by which renewal alternative and at what time in the planning horizon. The problem is subjected to several constraints of service requirements (increased demand, system reliability, service voltage drop, etc.) and the traditional planning techniques need to be revised to take into account aging aspects in order to avoid the underestimation of system risk and incorrect conclusions in system planning. The procedure developed by the authors gives the yearly network evolution in the study period that minimizes the capital expenditures for maintaining a reliable distribution network according to a regulation with an incentive scheme based on system performance. The outcome is a strategy that identifies, for each feeder in the network, the optimal renewal alternative and its optimal time of implementation.