This thesis experimentally validates the performance of an active islanding detection method under various scenarios. It is also analytically shown that the islanding detection method has a non-detection zone (NDZ), and a method to eliminate the NDZ is proposed. Moreover, the performance of an autonomous mode controller for islanded DG units is experimentally evaluated. Based on a robustness analysis, it is shown that the controller, which is basically designed for the nominal plant, can maintain the stability of the system despite of significant load uncertainties. The feasibility of the islanding detection method for islanding detection in two-DG systems is also experimentally investigated. Moreover, a control strategy for autonomous operation of two-DG systems is proposed, and its performance is experimentally evaluated. Then, adopting the islanding detection method and the proposed control strategy, the viability of smooth transitions from grid-connected modes to autonomous (islanded) modes in two-parallel DG systems is experimentally validated.

This thesis experimentally validates the performance of an active islanding detection method under various scenarios. It is also analytically shown that the islanding detection method has a non-detection zone (NDZ), and a method to eliminate the NDZ is proposed. Moreover, the performance of an autonomous mode controller for islanded DG units is experimentally evaluated. Based on a robustness analysis, it is shown that the controller, which is basically designed for the nominal plant, can maintain the stability of the system despite of significant load uncertainties. The feasibility of the islanding detection method for islanding detection in two-DG systems is also experimentally investigated. Moreover, a control strategy for autonomous operation of two-DG systems is proposed, and its performance is experimentally evaluated. Then, adopting the islanding detection method and the proposed control strategy, the viability of smooth transitions from grid-connected modes to autonomous (islanded) modes in two-parallel DG systems is experimentally validated.

It is expected that increasing amounts of distributed generation (DG) will be connected to the power system in the future. Advances in technology, deregulation in the market and the changes brought about by the government in many countries to end the monopoly of the vertically integrated power utilities led to the birth of this new technology. The other incentive being the alternative energy sources which are becoming more cost effective. Although there are many advantages with the interconnection of the DG into the network, there are many problems that it brings with its interconnection. There are many issues to be considered for the interconnection of DG?s, like the sizing and siting of the DG. The size and site of the DG will have an effect on the voltages and operations of the distribution power system. Since it is necessary that the voltages be within a specified limit, this problem of the siting and sizing of the DG has taken top priority. This thesis discusses a procedure for evaluating the impact of the site, size of the DG and also a change in the loading conditions of the system before and after the reconfiguration of the system due to the fault. This contingency analysis work is validated using the I 13 and I 37 node distribution feeder. Many feasible combinations of the size and site of a DG are analyzed, which resulted in large number of data, while the load flow is run for each feasible combination. The results and trends are presented.

Climate change has brought about legally-binding targets for Scotland, the U.K. and the E.U. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and source a share of overall energy consumption from renewable energy resources by 2020. With severe limitations in the transport and heating sectors the onus is on the electricity sector to provide a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and introduce a substantial increase in renewable energy production. The most attractive renewable energy resources are located in the geographic extremes of the country, far from the large population densities and high voltage, high capacity transmission networks. This means that the majority of renewable generation technologies will need to connect to the conventionally passive, lower voltage distribution networks. The integration of Distributed Generation (DG) is severely restricted by the technical limitations of the passively managed lower voltage infrastructure. Long lead times and the capital expenditure of traditional electricity network reinforcement can significantly delay or make the economics of some renewable generation schemes unviable. To be able to quickly and cost-effectively integrate significant levels of DG, the conventional fit-and-forget approach will have to be evolved into a ‘connect-and-manage’ system using active network management (ANM) techniques. ANM considers the real-time variation in generation and demand levels and schedules electricity network control settings to alleviate system constraints and increase connectable capacity of DG. This thesis explores the extent to which real time adjustments to DG and network asset controller set-points could allow existing networks to accommodate more DG. This thesis investigates the use of a full AC OPF technique to operate and schedule in real time variables of ANM control in distribution networks. These include; DG real and reactive power output and on-load-tap-changing transformer set-points. New formulations of the full AC OPF problem including multi-objective functions, penalising unnecessary deviation of variable control settings, and a Receding-Horizon formulation are assessed. This thesis also presents a methodology and modelling environment to explore the new and innovative formulations of OPF and to assess the interactions of various control practices in real time. Continuous time sequential, single scenario, OPF analyses at a very short control cycle can lead to the discontinuous and unnecessary switching of network control set-points, particularly during the less onerous network operating conditions. Furthermore, residual current flow and voltage variation can also gave rise to undesirable network effects including over and under voltage excursion and thermal overloading of network components. For the majority of instances, the magnitude of constraint violation was not significant but the levels of occurrence gave occasional cause for concern. The new formulations of the OPF problem were successful in deterring any extreme and unsatisfactory effects. Results have shown significant improvements in the energy yield from non-firm renewable energy resources. Initial testing of the real time OPF techniques in a simple demonstration network where voltage rise restricted the headroom for installed DG capacity and energy yield, showed that the energy yield for a single DG increased by 200% from the fit-and-forget scenario. Extrapolation of the OPF technique to a network with multiple DGs from different types of renewable energy resources showed an increase of 216% from the fit-and-forget energy yield. In a much larger network case study, where thermal loading limits constrained further DG capacity and energy yield, the increase in energy yield was more modest with an average increase of 45% over the fit-and-forget approach. In the large network where thermal overloading prevailed there was no immediate alternative to real power curtailment. This work has demonstrated that the proposed ANM OPF schemes can provide an intelligent, more cost effective and quicker alternative to network upgrades. As a result, DNOs can have a better knowledge and understanding of the capabilities and technical limitations of their networks to absorb DG safely and securely, without the expense of conventional network reinforcement.

<p>The topic of this thesis is the study of energy storage systems operating with wind power plants. The motivation for applying energy storage in this context is that wind power generation is intermittent and generally difficult to predict, and that good wind energy resources are often found in areas with limited grid capacity. Moreover, energy storage in the form of hydrogen makes it possible to provide clean fuel for transportation. The aim of this work has been to evaluate how local energy storage systems should be designed and operated in order to increase the penetration and value of wind power in the power system. Optimization models and sequential and probabilistic simulation models have been developed for this purpose.</p><p>Chapter 3 presents a sequential simulation model of a general windhydrogen energy system. Electrolytic hydrogen is used either as a fuel for transportation or for power generation in a stationary fuel cell. The model is useful for evaluating how hydrogen storage can increase the penetration of wind power in areas with limited or no transmission capacity to the main grid. The simulation model is combined with a cost model in order to study how component sizing and choice of operation strategy influence the performance and economics of the wind-hydrogen system. If the stored hydrogen is not used as a separate product, but merely as electrical energy storage, it should be evaluated against other and more energy efficient storage options such as pumped hydro and redox flow cells. A probabilistic model of a grid-connected wind power plant with a general energy storage unit is presented in chapter 4. The energy storage unit is applied for smoothing wind power fluctuations by providing a firm power output to the grid over a specific period. The method described in the chapter is based on the statistical properties of the wind speed and a general representation of the wind energy conversion system and the energy storage unit. This method allows us to compare different storage solutions.</p><p>In chapter 5, energy storage is evaluated as an alternative for increasing the value of wind power in a market-based power system. A method for optimal short-term scheduling of wind power with energy storage has been developed. The basic model employs a dynamic programming algorithm for the scheduling problem. Moreover, different variants of the scheduling problem based on linear programming are presented. During on-line operation, the energy storage is operated to minimize the deviation between the generation schedule and the actual power output of the wind-storage system. It is shown how stochastic dynamic programming can be applied for the on-line operation problem by explicitly taking into account wind forecast uncertainty. The model presented in chapter 6 extends and improves the linear programming model described in chapter 5. An operation strategy based on model predictive control is developed for effective management of uncertainties. The method is applied in a simulation model of a wind-hydrogen system that supplies the local demand for electricity and hydrogen. Utilization of fuel cell heat and electrolytic oxygen as by-products is also considered. Computer simulations show that the developed operation method is beneficial for grid-connected as well as for isolated systems. For isolated systems, the method makes it possible to minimize the usage of backup power and to ensure a secure supply of hydrogen fuel. For grid-connected wind-hydrogen systems, the method could be applied for maximizing the profit from operating in an electricity market.</p><p>Comprehensive simulation studies of different example systems have been carried out to obtain knowledge about the benefits and limitations of using energy storage in conjunction with wind power. In order to exploit the opportunities for energy storage in electricity markets, it is crucial that the electrical efficiency of the storage is as high as possible. Energy storage combined with wind power prediction tools makes it possible to take advantage of varying electricity prices as well as reduce imbalance costs. Simulation results show that the imbalance costs of wind power and the electricity price variations must be relatively high to justify the installation of a costly energy storage system. Energy storage is beneficial for wind power integration in power systems with high-cost regulating units, as well as in areas with weak grid connection.</p><p>Hydrogen can become an economically viable energy carrier and storage medium for wind energy if hydrogen is introduced into the transportation sector. It is emphasized that seasonal wind speed variations lead to high storage costs if compressed hydrogen tanks are used for long-term storage. Simulation results indicate that reductions in hydrogen storage costs are more important than obtaining low-cost and high-efficient fuel cells and electrolyzers. Furthermore, it will be important to make use of the flexibility that the hydrogen alternative offers regarding sizing, operation and possibly the utilization of oxygen and heat as by-products.</p><p>The main scientific contributions from this thesis are the development of</p><p>- a simulation model for estimating the cost and energy efficiency of wind-hydrogen systems,</p><p>- a probabilistic model for predicting the performance of a gridconnected wind power plant with energy storage,</p><p>- optimization models for increasing the value of wind power in electricity markets by the use of hydrogen storage and other energy storage solutions and the system knowledge about wind energy and energy storage that has been obtained by the use of these models.</p> / Paper 1 is reprinted with kind permission of ACTA Press. Paper 2 is reprinted with kind permission of Elsevier/ Science Direct. http://www.elsevier.com, http://www.sciencedirect.com Paper 3 is reprinted with kind permission of IEEE.

The topic of this thesis is the study of energy storage systems operating with wind power plants. The motivation for applying energy storage in this context is that wind power generation is intermittent and generally difficult to predict, and that good wind energy resources are often found in areas with limited grid capacity. Moreover, energy storage in the form of hydrogen makes it possible to provide clean fuel for transportation. The aim of this work has been to evaluate how local energy storage systems should be designed and operated in order to increase the penetration and value of wind power in the power system. Optimization models and sequential and probabilistic simulation models have been developed for this purpose. Chapter 3 presents a sequential simulation model of a general windhydrogen energy system. Electrolytic hydrogen is used either as a fuel for transportation or for power generation in a stationary fuel cell. The model is useful for evaluating how hydrogen storage can increase the penetration of wind power in areas with limited or no transmission capacity to the main grid. The simulation model is combined with a cost model in order to study how component sizing and choice of operation strategy influence the performance and economics of the wind-hydrogen system. If the stored hydrogen is not used as a separate product, but merely as electrical energy storage, it should be evaluated against other and more energy efficient storage options such as pumped hydro and redox flow cells. A probabilistic model of a grid-connected wind power plant with a general energy storage unit is presented in chapter 4. The energy storage unit is applied for smoothing wind power fluctuations by providing a firm power output to the grid over a specific period. The method described in the chapter is based on the statistical properties of the wind speed and a general representation of the wind energy conversion system and the energy storage unit. This method allows us to compare different storage solutions. In chapter 5, energy storage is evaluated as an alternative for increasing the value of wind power in a market-based power system. A method for optimal short-term scheduling of wind power with energy storage has been developed. The basic model employs a dynamic programming algorithm for the scheduling problem. Moreover, different variants of the scheduling problem based on linear programming are presented. During on-line operation, the energy storage is operated to minimize the deviation between the generation schedule and the actual power output of the wind-storage system. It is shown how stochastic dynamic programming can be applied for the on-line operation problem by explicitly taking into account wind forecast uncertainty. The model presented in chapter 6 extends and improves the linear programming model described in chapter 5. An operation strategy based on model predictive control is developed for effective management of uncertainties. The method is applied in a simulation model of a wind-hydrogen system that supplies the local demand for electricity and hydrogen. Utilization of fuel cell heat and electrolytic oxygen as by-products is also considered. Computer simulations show that the developed operation method is beneficial for grid-connected as well as for isolated systems. For isolated systems, the method makes it possible to minimize the usage of backup power and to ensure a secure supply of hydrogen fuel. For grid-connected wind-hydrogen systems, the method could be applied for maximizing the profit from operating in an electricity market. Comprehensive simulation studies of different example systems have been carried out to obtain knowledge about the benefits and limitations of using energy storage in conjunction with wind power. In order to exploit the opportunities for energy storage in electricity markets, it is crucial that the electrical efficiency of the storage is as high as possible. Energy storage combined with wind power prediction tools makes it possible to take advantage of varying electricity prices as well as reduce imbalance costs. Simulation results show that the imbalance costs of wind power and the electricity price variations must be relatively high to justify the installation of a costly energy storage system. Energy storage is beneficial for wind power integration in power systems with high-cost regulating units, as well as in areas with weak grid connection. Hydrogen can become an economically viable energy carrier and storage medium for wind energy if hydrogen is introduced into the transportation sector. It is emphasized that seasonal wind speed variations lead to high storage costs if compressed hydrogen tanks are used for long-term storage. Simulation results indicate that reductions in hydrogen storage costs are more important than obtaining low-cost and high-efficient fuel cells and electrolyzers. Furthermore, it will be important to make use of the flexibility that the hydrogen alternative offers regarding sizing, operation and possibly the utilization of oxygen and heat as by-products. The main scientific contributions from this thesis are the development of - a simulation model for estimating the cost and energy efficiency of wind-hydrogen systems, - a probabilistic model for predicting the performance of a gridconnected wind power plant with energy storage, - optimization models for increasing the value of wind power in electricity markets by the use of hydrogen storage and other energy storage solutions and the system knowledge about wind energy and energy storage that has been obtained by the use of these models. / Paper 1 is reprinted with kind permission of ACTA Press. Paper 2 is reprinted with kind permission of Elsevier/ Science Direct. http://www.elsevier.com, http://www.sciencedirect.com Paper 3 is reprinted with kind permission of IEEE.

Driven by economic, technical, and environmental reasons, the energy sector is moving into an era where large portions of increases in electrical energy demand will be met through widespread installation of distributed resources or what's known as distributed generation (DG). DG units can operate in parallel to the main grid or in a micro-grid mode. The later is formed by a cluster of DG units connected to a distribution network to maintain the reliability of critical loads, mainly when the grid supply is not available. Distributed resources include variable frequency sources, high frequency sources, and direct energy conversion sources producing dc voltages or currents. The majority of distributed resources are interfaced to the utility grid or to the customer load via dc-ac pulse-width-modulated (PWM) voltage source inverter (VSI) systems. However, these interfaces introduce new issues, such as the absence of the physical inertia, wide-band of dynamics, limited overload capability, susceptibility to parameters variation, and switching harmonics generation. In addition, the uncertain and dynamic nature of the distribution network challenges the stability and control effectiveness of a grid-connected inverter-based DG interface. Generally, difficulties appear in the form of grid impedance and interfacing parameter variations, fast and slow grid-voltage disturbances, grid distortion and unbalance, and interactions between the inverter ac-side filter and the grid. On the other hand, a micro-grid system will be dominated by inverter-based DG units. Unlike conventional power system generators, inverter-based DG units have no physical inertia. This fact makes the micro-grid system potentially susceptible to oscillations resulting from system disturbances. Severe and random disturbances might be initiated in a micro-grid system, due to load changes, the power sharing mechanism of the inverters and other generators, and interactions between the DG interface and the network. Motivated by the aforementioned difficulties, this thesis presents new control algorithms for the DG interface that guarantee stable and high power quality injection under the occurrence of network disturbances and uncertainties, in both the grid-connected and micro-grid systems. The control architecture of the proposed DG interface relies on the following subsystems. First, a newly designed deadbeat current regulation scheme is proposed. The proposed design guarantees high power quality current injection under the presence of different disturbing parameters such as grid voltage distortion, interfacing parameter variation, and inverter system delays. Further, it utilizes the maximum dynamic performance of the inverter in a way that provides a high bandwidth and decoupled control performance for the outer control loops. Different topologies of the ac-side filter are considered for the current control design. Second, a novel adaptive discrete-time grid-voltage sensorless interfacing scheme for DG inverters is proposed. The adaptive interface relies on a new interface-monitoring unit that is developed to facilitate accurate and fast estimation of the interfacing impedance parameters and the grid voltage vector (magnitude and position) at the point of common coupling. The estimated grid voltage is utilized to realize a grid-voltage sensorless interfacing scheme, whereas the interfacing parameters are utilized for the self-tuning control and interface-parameter monitoring. Further, a simple and robust synchronization algorithm and a voltage-sensorless average power control loop are proposed to realize an adaptive voltage-sensorless DG interface. The voltage-sensorless interface positively contributes to the elimination of the residual negative sequence and voltage feed-forward compensation errors, and to the robustness of the power sharing mechanism in paralleled inverter systems, where the power-sharing mechanism is generally based on open-loop controllers. Third, a new voltage control scheme for the DG interface featuring fast load voltage regulation and effective mitigation of fast voltage disturbances is proposed. The proposed voltage control scheme targets the problem of fast and large-signal-based voltage disturbances, which is common in typical distribution feeders. A hybrid voltage controller combining a linear with a variable-structure-control element is proposed for the DG interface. Positive and dual-sequence versions of the proposed voltage controller are developed to address the issue of unbalanced voltage disturbances. The proposed voltage controller successfully embeds a wide band of frequency modes through an equivalent internal model. Subsequently, wide range of balanced and unbalanced voltage perturbations, including capacitor-switching disturbances, can be effectively mitigated. Fourth, to constrain the drift of the low frequency modes in a conventional droop-controlled micro-grid, a new transient-based droop controller with adaptive transient-gains is proposed. The proposed power-sharing controller offers an active damping feature that is designed to preserve the dynamic performance and stability of each inverter unit at different loading conditions. Unlike conventional droop controllers, the proposed droop controller yields two-degree of freedom tunable controller. Subsequently, the dynamic performance of the power-sharing mechanism can be adjusted, without affecting the static droop gain, to damp the oscillatory modes of the power-sharing controller. The overall robust DG interface facilitates a robust micro-grid operation and safe plug-and-play integration of DG units on existing distribution systems; hence increasing the system penetration of DG. The direct result of this development is huge financial saving for utilities by capturing the salient features of deploying DG into existing utility networks. Further, these developments are significant to the industry as they provide the blue print for reliable control algorithms in future DG units, which are expected to operate under challenging system conditions.

Driven by economic, technical, and environmental reasons, the energy sector is moving into an era where large portions of increases in electrical energy demand will be met through widespread installation of distributed resources or what's known as distributed generation (DG). DG units can operate in parallel to the main grid or in a micro-grid mode. The later is formed by a cluster of DG units connected to a distribution network to maintain the reliability of critical loads, mainly when the grid supply is not available. Distributed resources include variable frequency sources, high frequency sources, and direct energy conversion sources producing dc voltages or currents. The majority of distributed resources are interfaced to the utility grid or to the customer load via dc-ac pulse-width-modulated (PWM) voltage source inverter (VSI) systems. However, these interfaces introduce new issues, such as the absence of the physical inertia, wide-band of dynamics, limited overload capability, susceptibility to parameters variation, and switching harmonics generation. In addition, the uncertain and dynamic nature of the distribution network challenges the stability and control effectiveness of a grid-connected inverter-based DG interface. Generally, difficulties appear in the form of grid impedance and interfacing parameter variations, fast and slow grid-voltage disturbances, grid distortion and unbalance, and interactions between the inverter ac-side filter and the grid. On the other hand, a micro-grid system will be dominated by inverter-based DG units. Unlike conventional power system generators, inverter-based DG units have no physical inertia. This fact makes the micro-grid system potentially susceptible to oscillations resulting from system disturbances. Severe and random disturbances might be initiated in a micro-grid system, due to load changes, the power sharing mechanism of the inverters and other generators, and interactions between the DG interface and the network. Motivated by the aforementioned difficulties, this thesis presents new control algorithms for the DG interface that guarantee stable and high power quality injection under the occurrence of network disturbances and uncertainties, in both the grid-connected and micro-grid systems. The control architecture of the proposed DG interface relies on the following subsystems. First, a newly designed deadbeat current regulation scheme is proposed. The proposed design guarantees high power quality current injection under the presence of different disturbing parameters such as grid voltage distortion, interfacing parameter variation, and inverter system delays. Further, it utilizes the maximum dynamic performance of the inverter in a way that provides a high bandwidth and decoupled control performance for the outer control loops. Different topologies of the ac-side filter are considered for the current control design. Second, a novel adaptive discrete-time grid-voltage sensorless interfacing scheme for DG inverters is proposed. The adaptive interface relies on a new interface-monitoring unit that is developed to facilitate accurate and fast estimation of the interfacing impedance parameters and the grid voltage vector (magnitude and position) at the point of common coupling. The estimated grid voltage is utilized to realize a grid-voltage sensorless interfacing scheme, whereas the interfacing parameters are utilized for the self-tuning control and interface-parameter monitoring. Further, a simple and robust synchronization algorithm and a voltage-sensorless average power control loop are proposed to realize an adaptive voltage-sensorless DG interface. The voltage-sensorless interface positively contributes to the elimination of the residual negative sequence and voltage feed-forward compensation errors, and to the robustness of the power sharing mechanism in paralleled inverter systems, where the power-sharing mechanism is generally based on open-loop controllers. Third, a new voltage control scheme for the DG interface featuring fast load voltage regulation and effective mitigation of fast voltage disturbances is proposed. The proposed voltage control scheme targets the problem of fast and large-signal-based voltage disturbances, which is common in typical distribution feeders. A hybrid voltage controller combining a linear with a variable-structure-control element is proposed for the DG interface. Positive and dual-sequence versions of the proposed voltage controller are developed to address the issue of unbalanced voltage disturbances. The proposed voltage controller successfully embeds a wide band of frequency modes through an equivalent internal model. Subsequently, wide range of balanced and unbalanced voltage perturbations, including capacitor-switching disturbances, can be effectively mitigated. Fourth, to constrain the drift of the low frequency modes in a conventional droop-controlled micro-grid, a new transient-based droop controller with adaptive transient-gains is proposed. The proposed power-sharing controller offers an active damping feature that is designed to preserve the dynamic performance and stability of each inverter unit at different loading conditions. Unlike conventional droop controllers, the proposed droop controller yields two-degree of freedom tunable controller. Subsequently, the dynamic performance of the power-sharing mechanism can be adjusted, without affecting the static droop gain, to damp the oscillatory modes of the power-sharing controller. The overall robust DG interface facilitates a robust micro-grid operation and safe plug-and-play integration of DG units on existing distribution systems; hence increasing the system penetration of DG. The direct result of this development is huge financial saving for utilities by capturing the salient features of deploying DG into existing utility networks. Further, these developments are significant to the industry as they provide the blue print for reliable control algorithms in future DG units, which are expected to operate under challenging system conditions.

Solar power is considered a very promising source for electric power generation. The abundance of sunlight over a large area of the earth surface gives rise to several applications of photovoltaic systems. Electricity can be generated from sunlight either directly by employing the photovoltaic effect, or by using energy from the sun to heat up a working fluid that can be used to power up electricity generators. These two technologies are widely used today to provide power to either stand-alone loads or for connection to the power system grid. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is a very important consideration that is taken into account when building a new photovoltaic power system. This is needed in order to extract maximum power output from a PV array under varying atmospheric conditions to maximize the return on initial investments. Several techniques have been used to tackle this problem including perturb and observe (P&O), incremental conductance (IncCond) and fuzzy logic based algorithms. Judging between these techniques is based on their speed of locating the maximum power point (MPP) of a PV array under given atmospheric conditions, besides the cost and complexity of implementing them. The P&O and IncCond algorithms have a low implementation complexity but their tracking speed is slow. Fuzzy logic techniques are faster but suffer from high implementation complexity. One of the goals of this thesis is to present an MPPT algorithm implementation that is based on the fractional open circuit voltage method. This technique is easy to implement and offers a fast tracking speed for the MPP of a PV array. It provides an approximation within 4-5% of the maximum power point, which is a tradeoff between the speed and accuracy of operation around the MPP. It offers a speed advantage in grid connected PV systems. The P&O algorithm, which is very common, is difficult to implement under these conditions due to its poor response time. There is also a need for developing control techniques for three phase grid connected PV systems including a method for DC link voltage control that can stabilize the voltage at the inverter input. This area of research is currently growing with the increase in number of PV installations backed up by government incentives in several countries. In addition to the previously mentioned points, this work is intended to be used in further research to replace the representation of PV arrays as a simple DC source when included in power system studies. That is a basic assumption and does not take into consideration the various dynamics caused by changing solar irradiation and surface temperature of the array.

Reliability assessment is of primary importance in designing and planning distribution systems that operate in an economic manner with minimal interruption of customer loads. With the advances in renewable energy sources, Distributed Generation (DG), is forecasted to increase in distribution networks. The study of reliability evaluation of such networks is a relatively new area. This research presents a new methodology that can be used to analyze the reliability of such distribution systems and can be applied in preliminary planning studies for such systems. The method uses a sequential Monte Carlo simulation of the distribution system’s stochastic model to generate the operating behavior and combines that with a path augmenting Max flow algorithm to evaluate the load status for each state change of operation in the system. Overall system and load point reliability indices such as hourly loss of load, frequency of loss of load and expected energy unserved can be computed using this technique. On addition of DG in standby mode of operation at specific locations in the network, the reliability indices can be compared for different scenarios and strategies for placement of DG and their capacities can be determined using this methodology.