An Enhanced Investment Priority Decision of Facilities Considering Reliability of Distribution Networks

This paper proposes an improved investment pnonty decision method of facilities considering the reliability of distribution networks. The proposed method decides an investment order of the facilities combining, by fuzzy rules, the investment priority decision by KEPCO and that by reliability evaluation indices. The reliability evaluation indices are SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) and SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index). The reliability analysis method of distribution networks applied in this paper utilizes the analytic method, where the used reliability data is the historical data of KEPCO. Particularly, we assumed that the failure rate increases as the equipment ages. To verify the performance of the proposed method, we applied it with the planned projects to reinforce the weak electrical facilities in KEPCO in 2004. The evaluation result showed that, under a limited budget, the reliability of KEPCO in the Busan region using the proposed method could be enhanced if used rather than the conventional method typically in place. Therefore, the results verify that the proposed method can be efficiently used in the actual priorities method for investing in the electrical facilities.