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Implementing automation system in distribution networks needs a huge investment that usually cannot be funded entirely in a short period of time. So distribution companies (DISCOs) should develop long-term plans to equip their network with automation technologies as far as economically justifiable. Aiming to provide a methodology for development such plans, this paper presents a novel multistage planning model for implementing distribution automation system considering all main hardware and software infrastructures. The proposed method optimally determines the type, location, and time in which an equipment or infrastructure must be added to network considering the network capacity expansion plan. The objective function of the planning problem is to maximize the net present value of the DISCO's profit in the planning time horizon. In this method, the optimization problem is solved using the genetic algorithm approach as a promising technique in solving the mixed integer nonlinear programming problems. The proposed method is evaluated on an illustrative test network and the obtained results are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Due to the lack of feeder corridors, the Chinese utility companies frequently choose the technique of putting multiple overhead feeders on a same tower (MFST) to meet the load demand in a heavy load area. In many situations, the distance among the feeders of MFST in an electrical distribution network (EDN) is usually too small to meet the requirements of safety regulation for repairing and maintenance. Therefore, when a fault occurs on a feeder of MFST, the other feeders have to be in a triggered passive outage (TPO) state to assist the repairing of the failed feeder. This paper presents a reliability evaluation algorithm for EDNs containing MFST using the section technique. The definition of TPO and the equivalent TPO rate and TPO duration are also proposed. Based on the TPO parameters and the section technique, the reliability evaluation algorithm containing the MFST can be obtained. Case studies on the modified RBTS-BUS6 and the EDNs of three districts in Dongguan city, China, show that the MFST has a significant impact on the EDN reliability and should be considered in the reliability evaluation. The results also show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]