Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Electrical Power and Energy Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes Assessing the contribution of automation to the electric distribution network reliability Carlos Girón a , Fco Javier Rodríguez a, ⁎ , Laura Giménez de Urtasum b , Samuel Borroy b a Department of Electronics, University of Alcalá, Campus Universitario, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Alcalá de Henares, Spain b CIRCE Foundation, Zaragoza, Spain ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Distribution power network reliability Communications latency ASIDI SAIDI TIEPI KPIs ABSTRACT Electrical distribution systems have changed significantly in the last years. Todays it is necessary to optimize the quality and quantity of power delivered to customers and to respond to current energy demand. In this sense, electric utilities are involved in network automation processes, supported in information and communication technologies, to improve network efficiency, reliability, security and quality of service. This paper aims to quantify the improvements achieved in the reliability indices with the automation of secondary substation (SS). As this automation process lies in the use of non-ideal communication channels, their latency and availability are considered. In order to complete the analysis from an experimental evaluation, this methodology has been applied to a real distribution network, included in the framework of several research projects developed in EU (European Union). Since the value of this reliability index has a remarkable influence on the revenues of the distribution system operator companies, these results provide a useful incoming for the strategic development of the distribution networks. 1. Introduction Distribution System Operators (DSOs) should adapt their network operations and business to newly developed technologies and solutions for medium and low voltage grids [1]. Demand management and the increase of the use of distributed generators have emerged as some of the main concerns during the last years in electric power distribution [2]. To address these recent concerns, DSOs have equipped their net- works with information and communication technologies in order to improve network efficiency, reliability, security and quality of service [3]. It is important to remark that system reliability is not the same as power quality [4]. Reliability is associated with sustained and mo- mentary supply interruptions, whereas power quality involves faster electrical disturbances such as voltage fluctuations, abnormal wave- forms and harmonic distortions. The automation of secondary substation (SS) is required to facilitate network integration and control of distributed generation, local storage and manageable loads, to ensure and even improve power quality. The rapid restoration of the power supply after outage situations is a key factor in the reliability of the network. Therefore, network automation should allow developing a self-healing system able to restore service as quickly and efficiently as possible [5]. A considerable interest in reducing economic losses suffered by power system customers due to reliability events has been identified recently by the electric sector stakeholders. This situation, together with the changing regulation of the power industry, has motivated the definition of reliability based rates or penalties to power distribution companies. According to current regulatory models around the world, such as the Spanish or the Finnish, the investment in the improvement of system reliability is motivated because reliability has a direct effect on the revenues of the DSOs. Specifically, an increase up to 2% of the yearly remuneration without incentives may be given to a DSO due to reliability improvement [6]. In this sense, network automation invol- ving remote-controlled disconnectors and fault passage indicators (FPI) belong to the basic structures in distribution technology, and these devices play an important role in the improvement of reliability [7,8]. Therefore, DSOs have mainly two options to enhance reliability: the first is the installation of an undefined number of these network auto- mation devices and thereafter to check the change in reliability. The second choice is to calculate reliability through the simulation of the effects of this network automation equipment over the modelled DSO network and, consequently, install the appropriate devices in the net- work. Obviously, the first option may lead to uneconomical results; whereas the second one provides the possibility to assess whether the economical effort necessary to install the network automatic devices is profitable before the real equipment installation is carried out. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2017.10.027 Received 22 November 2016; Received in revised form 16 October 2017; Accepted 22 October 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: carlos.giron@depeca.uah.es (C. Girón), franciscoj.rodriguez@uah.es (F.J. Rodríguez), lauragdu@fcirce.es (L. Giménez de Urtasum), sborroy@fcirce.es (S. Borroy). Electrical Power and Energy Systems 97 (2018) 120–126 0142-0615/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK