An Approach on Critical Component Identification in Reliability Centered Maintenance of Power Distribution Systems Based on Analytical Hierarchical Process

In a distribution power system, vividly in a deregulated market and restructured environment, blind time based maintenance of all the distribution equipments is neither affordable nor economically justifiable. Moreover, an acceptable level of system reliability is an indispensable criterion for the successful operation of a power distribution system. To enhance the cost effectiveness of distribution maintenance policy and particularly from the asset management point of view, this paper proposes a new applicable qualitative-quantitative approach based on analytical hierarchical process (AHP) to determine the most critical equipments to be prioritized in maintenance scheduling. Entire attempt is to contribute all the major technical and practical parameters related to this problem to find the most optimized solution. The proposed method is applied to a practical distribution feeder of Iran's power grid to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the method.