Simulation Method for Reliability Assessment

This paper describes a simulation method for reliability assessment of electrical distribution systems. The method has been implemented in the reliability assessment tool RADPOW which now is able to perform both analytical and simulation evaluations. The implemented method is validated by comparing results from application studies made for an electrical distribution system in the Stockholm area. The studies includes both simulation and analytical approach and the use of two different computer tools; that are the in house tool RADPOW, and the commercial tool NEPLAN. The simulation approach is beneficial for solving complex reliability models that could be difficult to solve analytical, e.g for resulting in distribution functions for reliability indices. One application area for such reliability models are for reliability centered asset management (RCAM), where the maintenance effort is optimized based on its contribution to the overall system reliability. This approach is being developed at KTH, and the simulation approach presented in this paper aims to provide a tool to perform applications studies according with the RCAM approach. Keywords; Simulation, Electrical distribution system, reliability indices, RADPOW, NEPLAN, RCAM