Analysis of smart grid technology application for power distribution system reliability enhancement: A case study on Bahir Dar power distribution

Reliability improvement of power distribution systems is a pre-request for economic and social development of any country. Currently, there is a rapid growth of industrial, commercial, residential and other service supplying institutions. All of these institutions need reliable power supply. Due to this, utilities must work hard and ensure that the customers are getting a reliable power supply. However, higher power interruption frequency and longer interruption duration are the most serious problem facing Ethiopian power distribution systems and this problem affects the daily activity of customers. In this paper, smart grid technology applications using optimal placement of switching/automating devices, network reconfiguration and rapid power restoration is performed to improve the reliability problem of Bahir Dar power distribution system. Optimal placement of switching/automating devices and network reconfiguration is determined by the Genetic Algorithm optimization technique using mat lab software. The rapid power restoration is carried out by Prim's Algorithm used for constructing the Minimum Spanning Tree in mat lab software. The study is tested at Bata the 34 bus feeder of Bahir Dar distribution system. The existing network is assessed and the reliability indices such as SAIFI, SAIDI, ASAI, CAIDI and EENS are evaluated using ETAP 12.6.0 software. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative.