As descargas atmosféricas sempre foram tratadas como acontecimentos fortuitos e de força maior, inerentes à vontade do homem. Contudo, mudanças significativas a esse respeito ocorreram recentemente na legislação brasileira, no Código Civil e na norma ABNT NBR 5410: 2004 (Instalações Elétricas de Baixa Tensão). Além disso, em 29 de abril de 2004 foi publicada a Resolução Normativa nº 61 da ANEEL, que estabelece as disposições relativas ao ressarcimento de danos, em equipamentos elétricos instalados em unidades consumidoras, causados por perturbações no sistema elétrico. De acordo com essa nova visão, as descargas atmosféricas devem ser tratadas como fenômenos que podem ter as suas conseqüências previstas, evitadas ou ao menos minimizadas, fazendo com que os custos associados não sejam considerados simplesmente como prejuízos, mas sim passíveis de ressarcimento junto à concessionária. Tais fatores, aliados à inexistência de uma metodologia comum para análise dos prejuízos causados por esse fenômeno, motivaram a realização deste trabalho, que teve por objetivo avaliar os custos decorrentes de descargas atmosféricas em sistemas de distribuição de energia. Além de aspectos técnicos e jurídicos, são discutidos os custos referentes à energia não fornecida, danos em equipamentos, mão-de-obra e ressarcimento de pedidos de indenização por danos (PIDs). Discute-se ainda, embora de forma superficial, a importância de contabilização do custo da imagem da empresa junto aos consumidores. Finalmente, apresenta-se uma metodologia para determinação de tais custos, a qual é aplicada a casos reais, com comparação e análise dos resultados obtidos em diferentes situações. / Lightning discharges have always been treated as Acts of God and force majure events, inherent to man?s will. However, significant changes to this regard have recently occurred in the Brazilian Law, in the Civil Code and on the Brazilian Standard ABNT NBR 5410: 2004 (Low Voltage Electric Installations). In addition, on April 29th, 2004, ANEEL Normative Resolution No. 61 was published, which establishes the provisions regarding reimbursement of damages in electrical equipment installed in consumer units, caused by disturbances in the electrical system. According to this new version, the lightning discharges must be treated as phenomena which may have their consequences foreseen, avoided or at least minimized, causing the associated costs to be considered not only as losses, but also entitled to reimbursement with the operator. Such factors, allied to the non-existence of a common methodology for the review of the losses caused by such phenomenon, motivated the development of this work, which aimed at assessing the lightning-related costs in power distribution systems. In addition to the technical and legal aspects, the costs regarding non-supplied power, equipment damage, labor and indemnity claims (PIDs), are also discussed. Although superficially, the importance of taking into account the cost of the company?s image with the consumers is also discussed. Finally, a methodology for the determination of such costs is presented and applied to actual cases, with comparison and analysis of the results obtained in different situations.

Geração Distribuída é uma expressão utilizada para designar a geração elétrica proveniente de locais próximos ou juntos de consumidores, não interferindo a potência, tecnologia ou fonte de energia empregada. Estudos indicam que, até o ano de 2010, 20% do total de geração (em termos mundiais) serão provenientes desta forma de obtenção, uma vez que se torna fático sua vantagem sobre a geração central, por oferecer economia em matéria de investimentos relacionados à transmissão, redução de perdas e melhoria acerca da estabilidade do serviço de energia elétrica. Exemplos de geração distribuída são observados em pequenas centrais hidrelétricas, eólicas, térmicas, fotovoltaicas e geradoras de emergência, por terem pequeno porte e serem integradas ao sistema elétrico. Voltandose por hora ao potencial hidráulico passível de exploração no país, associado por sua vez às pequenas centrais hidrelétricas, tem-se cerca de 4% da potência instalável total (parcela extremamente significativa). De acordo com o Plano 2.015 da ELETROBRÁS, centrais que atingem até 30 MW de potência instalada representam um potencial de 9.456 MW. Informações de Geração da ANEEL indicam que há cerca de 254 PCH em operação no país, totalizando 1327 MW (1,4% do total), 40 empreendimentos em construção (500 MW) e 211 projetos outorgados (construção não iniciada) que, se implantados, adicionarão ao sistema elétrico 3426 MW. O panorama da reordenação da matriz energética nacional não tem apresentado abundância no que diz respeito ao investimento público, direcionado a grandes empreendimentos. Desta forma, as quedas d´água de pequeno e médio porte representam uma evidente opção de geração. As Pequenas Centrais Hidrelétricas (PCH) surgem então como uma alternativa viável, como já especificado anteriormente. Oferece vantagens primeiramente pelo custo acessível, pelo menor prazo de implementação e maturação do investimento, pelas facilidades oferecidas pela legislação, pela disposição das concessionárias de energia elétrica de comprarem o excedente de energia gerada por autoprodutores e finalmente por disponibilizarem o acesso às suas linhas de distribuição e transmissão à longa distância. A partir do incentivo proveniente do Governo Federal para a construção de PCH e descontos nas tarifas de uso dos sistemas de transmissão e distribuição, propiciou-se a ligação de novos pontos de geração de energia no sistema de Distribuição. Com a finalidade de reduzir os custos de transportes de energia, visa-se a localização dos novos pontos de geração próxima aos pontos de consumo potencial. Sendo assim, na medida em que a rede garante a regulação de freqüência e a absorção permanente da potência total, os grupos serão equipados com geradores que não requerem controle com comando sofisticado. Há, todavia, a possibilidade da construção de interligações que devem ser estudadas mesmo quando se tratando de rede de pequeno porte. Sua vantagem está no fato de permitir a utilização de geradores assíncronos, os quais são menos onerosos e mais robustos. Os efeitos da geração nos sistemas de distribuição irão depender do tamanho, do tipo e do local onde será instalada a geração. Atualmente não se tem dado a devida importância aos impactos na proteção da rede de distribuição da concessionária - fato lamentável já que se poderia evitar a degradação da qualidade de energia, confiabilidade e operação - uma vez que se dá prioridade aos benefícios como a energia de backup, a redução dos afundamentos de tensão, a energia de ponta, dentre outras. A partir do momento em que estas PCH são instaladas nas redes de Distribuição, transforma-se um sistema anteriormente radial em um sistema em anel, com mais de uma fonte de contribuição de corrente de curtocircuito. Sendo assim, têm-se como diretrizes deste trabalho abordar temas relacionados aos problemas com falta de coordenação e sensibilidade dos equipamentos de proteção, bloqueio de religamento, necessidade de proteção de sobre-corrente com função direcional, coordenação com consumidores e ramais (gerando problemas de segurança com pessoas e equipamentos) e continuidade de energia. Portanto, é de suma importância a realização sistemática de estudos de proteção de redes com geração de PCH em paralelo, uma vez que é determinante para a segurança e melhoria dos índices de continuidade de serviço. Finalmente, são descritos e analisados detalhadamente, os impactos no sistema de proteção nas redes de distribuição com a ligação de Pequenas Centrais Hidrelétricas, sendo propostas soluções para a redução deste impacto. / Distributed Generation is an expression used to designate the electric generation source in places near or contiguous to consumers, regardless of the power, technology or energy source used. Studies show that, by the year 2010, 20% of the total amount of generation (worldwide) will be acquired this way. The advantages of distributed generation, over central generation, are obvious and include: lower investment needed for transmission, reduction of losses and better performance regarding stability in the electric energy service. Examples of distributed generation include: small hydro electrics, wind turbines, thermals, photovoltaics and emergency generators. These examples are small in size and are interconnected to the electric system. Hydraulic power, which is available through exploration in the country, could comprise about 4% of the total power to be generated (which is a verysignificant portion) in small hydro electrics. According to ELETROBRÁS´ Plan 2,015, a power station that reaches up to 30 MW of installed power represents a potential of 9,456 MW. ANEEL´ information about Generation shows that there are about 254 PCH in operation in the country, which total 1,327 MW (1.4% of the total), 40 enterprises under construction (500 MW) and 211 approved projects (construction has not yet begun) that, when finished, will add 3,426 MW to the electric system. Substantial public investments have not been directed toward the larger enterprises since the re-arrangement of the national energy center. Thus, small and medium sized waterfalls represent a very interesting generation option. The small hydro electrics (PCH) appear as a possible choice, as mentioned before. They offer advantages, such as affordable cost, a short implementation time required, return of investment, support through legislation, the willingness of the electric power utilities to buy the exceeded energy generated by selfproducers and, finally, the possibility of access to its distribution and transmission lines through long distances. The connection of new points of energy generation in the Distribution system was made possible with the support from the Federal Government, through encouragement for PCH constructions and tax discounts for use of the transmission and distribution systems. We plan on locating the new points of generation next to the points of potential consumers with the objective of decreasing energy transportation costs. Thus, as the network guarantees the regulation of frequency and the permanent absorption of the total power, groups are equipped with generators that do not require a sophisticated command control. There is, however, the possibility of building interconnections, which must be studied even when related to the small potency network. The advantage lies in the facts that asynchronous generators can be used - which are cheaper and stronger. The effects of generation on distribution systems will depend on size, type and location where the generation will be installed. The protection of the utilities distribution network should be assigned a higher priority. Instead, we prioritize the benefits of energy production, such as the backup energy, voltage sags, top-notch energy, among others. This is unfortunate, since the protection of the utilities distribution network will avoid the degradation of the energy quality, of reliability and of operations. From the moment that these PCH are installed on the Distribution networks, a radial system is turned into a ring system with more than one source of short-circuit current contribution. Thus, the guidelines for this work are the approach to topics related to problems with the lack of coordination and sensibility of protection equipment, re-connection blockage, necessity of protection of overcurrent with directional function, coordination with consumers and extension lines (causing security problems with people and equipment) and energy continuity. It is of great importance to perform systematic studies on the protection of networks with the simultaneous generation of PCH since they are essential for the security and improvement of the current levels of continuity of service. Finally, the impacts on the distribution system protection of networks with connections to Small Hydroelectric Centrals are described and analyzed in detail, followed by proposals of solutions for the reduction of such impacts.

Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de alocação de dispositivos de proteção e manobra ao longo de alimentadores primários de um sistema de distribuição de energia elétrica, de forma a otimizar a quantidade de consumidores afetados e da energia média não distribuída, na ocorrência de desligamentos provocados por uma falha. Na alocação dos dispositivos, utiliza-se um algoritmo matemático que considera vários parâmetros envolvidos no fenômeno, que explicam o mérito de cada alternativa possível, ponderando as variações de benefício. Além de indicar os locais adequados para instalação dos dispositivos de proteção e manobra, a metodologia proposta permite a elaboração de regras para auxiliar a priorização de ações de manutenção e para otimizar os investimentos em alimentadores. Outro resultado da pesquisa é a relocação de dispositivos de proteção e manobra existentes em alimentadores, considerando o seu reposicionamento para melhorar o desempenho em face de faltas que provocam interrupções e portanto diminuindo os indicadores FEC frequência média de interrupção de fornecimento e a END pela energia média não distribuída.Com o objetivo de comprovar a eficácia da metodologia proposta, desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta para sua operacionalização e posterior aplicação com sucesso, em um Estudo de Caso real de uma Concessionária brasileira. / This paper presents a methodology for allocation of protection and switching devices along primary feeders of a system for electricity distribution in order to optimize both the number of affected consumers and the average amount of energy that is not supplied, in case of interruptions caused by a failure. For the allocation of the devices it is used a mathematical algorithm that considers various parameters involved in the phenomenon, explaining the relevance of each possible alternative and pondering benefit variations. Besides indicating the adequate places to install the protection and switching devices, the proposed methodology allows elaborating roles that help taking prior actions to maintain and optimize the investments in feeders. Other aspect of the research is the relocation of protection and switching devices that exist in the feeders, considering their replacing in order to enhance the performance in the occurrence of failures that cause interruptions and so, reducing the FEC indicators supplying interruption medium frequency and the END (Energy not supplied). Aiming to prove the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, it was developed a tool for its operation and subsequent successful application in a study case, that represents a real situation of a Brazilian electrical power retailer company.

O dimensionamento otimizado de sistemas de distribuição de águas tem originado centenas de trabalhos científicos nas últimas quatro décadas. Vários pesquisadores têm buscado encontrar uma metodologia capaz de dimensionar essas redes considerando diversos aspectos e incertezas características desse tipo de projeto. No entanto, os resultados da maioria das metodologias desenvolvidas não podem ser aplicados na prática. O objetivo deste trabalho é elaborar uma metodologia de dimensionamento de redes de distribuição de água considerando um enfoque multiobjetivo. A metodologia desenvolvida considera três aspectos referentes ao projeto desses sistemas: custo; confiabilidade e perdas por vazamentos. Para tanto, empregou-se um método de otimização multiobjetivo baseado em algoritmos genéticos para a geração do conjunto de soluções não-dominadas e um método multicriterial para escolha da alternativa final. Para representar os objetivos do problema, foram testadas nove funções: custo, vazamentos, entropia, resiliência, tolerância à falha, expansibilidade, efeito do envelhecimento e resilientropia, sendo que sete destas são específicas para a representação da confiabilidade. Para se avaliar as alternativas geradas foi desenvolvido um modelo de análise hidráulica que fosse capaz de trabalhar com vazamentos e com demandas dependente da pressão. Os métodos escolhidos foram o Híbrido de Nielsen e o Gradiente. Das funções testadas, a resilientropia, proposta originalmente neste trabalho, foi a que melhor se ajustou ao conceito formal de confiabilidade, representado pela função tolerância. Os resultados encontrados pela metodologia mostraram-se promissores, uma vez esta foi capaz de encontrar redes eficientes ao final das simulações. / The topic \"Optimized design of water distribution systems\" has generated hundreds of scientific publications in the last four decades. Several researchers have searched for a technology which would take into account a variety of aspects and uncertainties innate to the design of such networks. However, the results of most methodologies developed are not practical. The objective of this work is to develop a methodology for water distribution systems design that has a multi-objective focus. The methodology developed focuses in three aspects of the design of such systems: cost, reliability and losses by leaking. A multiobjective optimization method based on generic algorithms, generating a set of non-defined solutions, and a multi-criteria method for choosing the final alternative, was employed. Nine functions representing the objectives of the problem (method) were tested: cost, leakages, entropy, resilience, failure tolerance, expansibility, aging effect and resilienthropy, seven of which are specific to representing reliability. In order to evaluate the generated alternatives, a hydraulic analysis model, that could handle leakages and pressure dependent demands, was developed. The chosen methods were Nielsen\'s Hybrid, and the Gradient. Of all tested functions, resilientropy, originally proposed in this work, proved to be the one best adjusted to the formal concept of reliability, represented by the tolerance function. The results obtained by this methodology are promising, as they produced efficient distribution networks at the end of the simulations performed.

Driven by economic, technical and environmental factors, the energy sector is currently undergoing a profound paradigm shift towards a smarter grid setup. Increased intake of Distributed and Renewable Generation (DG) units is one of the Smart Grid (SG) pillars that will lead to numerous advantages among which lower electricity losses, increased reliability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions are the most salient. The increase of DG units’ penetration will cause changes to the characteristics of distribution networks from being passive with unidirectional power flow towards Active Distribution Networks (ADNs) with multi-direction power flow. However, such changes in the current distribution systems structure and design will halt the seamless DG integration due to various technical issues that may arise. Voltage and reactive power control is one of the most significant issues that limit increasing DG penetration into distribution systems. On the other hand, the term microgrid has been created to be the building block of ADNs. A microgrid should be able to operate in two modes of operation, grid-connected or islanded. The successful implementation of the microgrid concept demands a proper definition of the regulations governing its integration in distribution systems. In order to define such regulations, an accurate evaluation of the benefits that microgrids will bring to customers and utilities is needed. Therefore, there is a need for careful consideration of microgrids in the assessment, operation, planning and design aspects of ADNs. Moreover, SG offers new digital technologies to be combined with the existing utility grids to substantially improve the overall efficiency and reliability of the network. Advanced network monitoring, two ways communication acts and intelligent control methods represent the main features of SG. Thus it is required to properly apply these features to facilitate a seamless integration of DG units in ADNs considering microgrids. Motivated by voltage and reactive power control issues in ADNs, the concept of microgrids, and SG technologies, three consequent stages are presented in this thesis. In the first stage, the issues of voltage and reactive power control in traditional distribution systems are addressed and assessed in order to shed the light on the potential conflicts that are expected with high DG penetration. A simple, yet efficient and generic three phase power flow algorithm is developed to facilitate the assessment. The results show that utility voltage and reactive power control devices can no longer use conventional control techniques and there is a necessity for the evolution of voltage and reactive power control from traditional to smart control schemes. Furthermore, a probabilistic approach for assessing the impacts of voltage and reactive power constraints on the probability of successful operation of islanded microgrids and its impacts on the anticipated improvement in the system and customer reliability indices is developed. The assessment approach takes into account: 1) the stochastic nature of DG units and loads variability, 2) the special philosophy of operation for islanded microgrids, 3) the different configurations of microgrids in ADNs, and 4) the microgrids dynamic stability. The results show that voltage and reactive power aspects cannot be excluded from the assessment of islanded microgrids successful operation. The assessment studies described in the first stage should be followed by new voltage and reactive power planning approaches that take into account the characteristics of ADNs and the successful operation of islanded microgrids. Feeders shunt capacitors are the main reactive power sources in distribution networks that are typically planned to be located or reallocated in order to provide voltage support and reduce the energy losses. Thus, in the second stage, the problem of capacitor planning in distribution network has been reformulated to consider microgrids in islanded mode. The genetic algorithm technique (GA) is utilized to solve the new formulation. The simulation results show that the new formulation for the problem of capacitor planning will facilitate a successful implementation of ADNs considering islanded microgrids. In the third stage, the SG technologies are applied to construct a two ways communication-based distributed control that has the capability to provide proper voltage and reactive power control in ADNs. The proposed control scheme is defined according to the concept of multiagent technology, where each voltage and reactive power control device or DG unit is considered as a control agent. An intelligent Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is proposed for the interior structure of each control agent. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) performatives are used as communication acts between the control agents. First, the distributed control scheme is applied for voltage regulation in distribution feeders at which load tap changer (LTC) or step voltage regulators are installed at the begging of the feeder. In this case, the proposed control aims to modify the local estimation of the line drop compensation circuit via communication. Second, the control scheme is modified to take into consideration the case of multiple feeders having a substation LTC and unbalanced load diversity. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control structure, a multiagent simulation model is proposed. The simulation results show that distributed control structure has the capability to mitigate the interference between DG units and utility voltage and reactive power control devices.

The rapid increase of content delivery over the Internet has lead to the proliferation of content distribution networks (CDNs). Management of CDNs requires algorithms for request routing, content placement, and eviction in such a way that user delays are small. Our objective in this work is to design feasible algorithms that solve this trio of problems. We abstract the system of front-end source nodes and back-end caches of the CDN in the likeness of the input and output nodes of a switch. In this model, queues of requests for different pieces of content build up at the source nodes, which route these requests to a cache that contains the content. For each request that is routed to a cache, a corresponding data file is transmitted back to the source across links of finite capacity. Caches are of finite size, and the content of the caches can be refreshed periodically. A requested but missing item is fetched to the cache from the media vault of the CDN. In case of a lack of adequate space at the cache, an existing, unrequested item may be evicted from the cache in order to accommodate a new item. Every such cache refresh or media vault access incurs a finite cost. Hence the refresh periodicity allowed to the system represents our system cost. In order to obtain small user delays, our algorithms must consider the lengths of the request queues that build up at the nodes. Stable policies ensure the finiteness of the request queues, while good polices also lead to short queue lengths. We first design a throughput-optimal algorithm that solves the routing-placement eviction problem using instantaneous system state information. The design yields insight into the impact of different cache refresh and eviction policies on queue length. We use this and construct throughput optimal algorithms that engender short queue lengths. We then propose a regime of algorithms which remedies the inherent problem of wastage of capacity. We also develop heuristic variants, and we study their performance. We illustrate the potential of our approach and validate all our claims and results through simulations on different CDN topologies.

The performance of Internet-based services depends on many server-side, client-side, and network related factors. Often, the interaction among the factors or their effect on service performance is not known or well-understood. The complexity of these services makes it difficult to develop analytical models. Lack of models impedes network management tasks, such as predicting performance while planning for changes to service infrastructure, or diagnosing causes of poor performance. We posit that we can use statistical causal methods to model performance for Internet-based services and facilitate performance related network management tasks. Internet-based services are well-suited for statistical learning because the inherent variability in many factors that affect performance allows us to collect comprehensive datasets that cover service performance under a wide variety of conditions. These conditional distributions represent the functions that govern service performance and dependencies that are inherent in the service infrastructure. These functions and dependencies are accurate and can be used in lieu of analytical models to reason about system performance, such as predicting performance of a service when changing some factors, finding causes of poor performance, or isolating contribution of individual factors in observed performance. We present three systems, What-if Scenario Evaluator (WISE), How to Improve Performance (HIP), and Network Access Neutrality Observatory (NANO), that use statistical causal methods to facilitate network management tasks. WISE predicts performance for what-if configurations and deployment questions for content distribution networks. For this, WISE learns the causal dependency structure among the latency-causing factors, and when one or more factors is changed, WISE estimates effect on other factors using the dependency structure. HIP extends WISE and uses the causal dependency structure to invert the performance function, find causes of poor performance, and help answers questions about how to improve performance or achieve performance goals. NANO uses causal inference to quantify the impact of discrimination policies of ISPs on service performance. NANO is the only tool to date for detecting destination-based discrimination techniques that ISPs may use. We have evaluated these tools by application to large-scale Internet-based services and by experiments on wide-area Internet. WISE is actively used at Google for predicting network-level and browser-level response time for Web search for new datacenter deployments. We have used HIP to find causes of high-latency Web search transactions in Google, and identified many cases where high-latency transactions can be significantly mitigated with simple infrastructure changes. We have evaluated NANO using experiments on wide-area Internet and also made the tool publicly available to recruit users and deploy NANO at a global scale.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) represent a promising future direction for the personal transportation sector in terms of decreasing the reliance on fossil fuels while simultaneously decreasing emissions. Energy used for driving is fully or partially shifted to electricity leading to lower emission rates, especially in a low carbon intensive generation mixture such as that of British Columbia’s. Despite the benefits of PHEVs for vehicle owners, care will need to be taken when integrating PHEVs into existing electrical grids. For example, there is a natural coincidence between peak electricity demand and the hours during which the majority of vehicles are parked at a residence after a daily commute. This research aims to investigate the incremental impacts to distribution networks in British Columbia imposed by the charging of PHEVs. A probabilistic model based on Monte Carlo Simulations is used to investigate the impacts of uncontrolled PHEV charging on three phase networks in the BC electricity system. A model simulating daily electricity demand is used to estimate the residential and commercial demand on a network. A PHEV operator model simulates the actions of drivers throughout a typical day in order to estimate the demand for vehicle charging imposed on networks. A load flow algorithm is used to solve three phase networks for voltage, current and line losses. Representative three phase networks are investigated typical of suburban, urban and rural networks. Scenarios of increasing PHEV penetration on the network and technological advancement are considered in the absence of vehicle charging control. The results are analyzed in terms of three main categories of impacts: network demands, network voltage levels and secondary transformer overloading. In all of the networks, the PHEV charging adds a large amount of demand to the daily peak period. The increase in peak demand due to PHEV charging increases at a higher rate than the increase in energy supplied to the network as a result of vehicles charging at 240V outlets. No significant voltage drop or voltage unbalance problems occur on any of the networks investigated. Secondary transformer overloading rates are highest on the suburban network. PHEVs can also contribute to loss of transformer life specifically for transformers that are overloaded in the absence of PHEV charging. For the majority of feeders, uncontrolled PHEV charging should not pose significant problems in the near term. Recommendations are made for future studies and possible methods for mitigating the impacts.

Driven by economic, technical and environmental factors, the energy sector is currently undergoing a profound paradigm shift towards a smarter grid setup. Increased intake of Distributed and Renewable Generation (DG) units is one of the Smart Grid (SG) pillars that will lead to numerous advantages among which lower electricity losses, increased reliability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions are the most salient. The increase of DG units’ penetration will cause changes to the characteristics of distribution networks from being passive with unidirectional power flow towards Active Distribution Networks (ADNs) with multi-direction power flow. However, such changes in the current distribution systems structure and design will halt the seamless DG integration due to various technical issues that may arise. Voltage and reactive power control is one of the most significant issues that limit increasing DG penetration into distribution systems. On the other hand, the term microgrid has been created to be the building block of ADNs. A microgrid should be able to operate in two modes of operation, grid-connected or islanded. The successful implementation of the microgrid concept demands a proper definition of the regulations governing its integration in distribution systems. In order to define such regulations, an accurate evaluation of the benefits that microgrids will bring to customers and utilities is needed. Therefore, there is a need for careful consideration of microgrids in the assessment, operation, planning and design aspects of ADNs. Moreover, SG offers new digital technologies to be combined with the existing utility grids to substantially improve the overall efficiency and reliability of the network. Advanced network monitoring, two ways communication acts and intelligent control methods represent the main features of SG. Thus it is required to properly apply these features to facilitate a seamless integration of DG units in ADNs considering microgrids. Motivated by voltage and reactive power control issues in ADNs, the concept of microgrids, and SG technologies, three consequent stages are presented in this thesis. In the first stage, the issues of voltage and reactive power control in traditional distribution systems are addressed and assessed in order to shed the light on the potential conflicts that are expected with high DG penetration. A simple, yet efficient and generic three phase power flow algorithm is developed to facilitate the assessment. The results show that utility voltage and reactive power control devices can no longer use conventional control techniques and there is a necessity for the evolution of voltage and reactive power control from traditional to smart control schemes. Furthermore, a probabilistic approach for assessing the impacts of voltage and reactive power constraints on the probability of successful operation of islanded microgrids and its impacts on the anticipated improvement in the system and customer reliability indices is developed. The assessment approach takes into account: 1) the stochastic nature of DG units and loads variability, 2) the special philosophy of operation for islanded microgrids, 3) the different configurations of microgrids in ADNs, and 4) the microgrids dynamic stability. The results show that voltage and reactive power aspects cannot be excluded from the assessment of islanded microgrids successful operation. The assessment studies described in the first stage should be followed by new voltage and reactive power planning approaches that take into account the characteristics of ADNs and the successful operation of islanded microgrids. Feeders shunt capacitors are the main reactive power sources in distribution networks that are typically planned to be located or reallocated in order to provide voltage support and reduce the energy losses. Thus, in the second stage, the problem of capacitor planning in distribution network has been reformulated to consider microgrids in islanded mode. The genetic algorithm technique (GA) is utilized to solve the new formulation. The simulation results show that the new formulation for the problem of capacitor planning will facilitate a successful implementation of ADNs considering islanded microgrids. In the third stage, the SG technologies are applied to construct a two ways communication-based distributed control that has the capability to provide proper voltage and reactive power control in ADNs. The proposed control scheme is defined according to the concept of multiagent technology, where each voltage and reactive power control device or DG unit is considered as a control agent. An intelligent Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is proposed for the interior structure of each control agent. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) performatives are used as communication acts between the control agents. First, the distributed control scheme is applied for voltage regulation in distribution feeders at which load tap changer (LTC) or step voltage regulators are installed at the begging of the feeder. In this case, the proposed control aims to modify the local estimation of the line drop compensation circuit via communication. Second, the control scheme is modified to take into consideration the case of multiple feeders having a substation LTC and unbalanced load diversity. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control structure, a multiagent simulation model is proposed. The simulation results show that distributed control structure has the capability to mitigate the interference between DG units and utility voltage and reactive power control devices.

Water distribution networks are being designed by traditional methods based on rules-of-thumb and personal experience of the designer. However, since there is no unique solution to any network design, namely there are various combinations of pipes, pumps, tanks all of which satisfy the same pressure and velocity restrictions, it is most probable that the design performed by traditional techniques is not the optimum one. This study deals how an optimization technique can be a useful tool for a designer during the design to find a solution. The method used within the study is the partial enumeration technique developed by Gessler. The technique is applied by a commercially available software, i.e. WADISO SA. The study is focused on discrepancies between a network designed by traditional techniques and the same network designed by partial enumeration method. Attention is given to steps of enumeration, which are basically grouping of pipes, candidate pipe size and price function assignments, to demonstrate that the designers can control all the phases of optimization process. In this respect, special attention is given to price functions to show the effect of them on the result. The study also revealed that the cost of fitting materials cannot be included in the price function although it may have significant effect in a system composed of closely located junctions. The results obtained from this study are useful to show that although optimization methods do not provide a definite solution / partial enumeration method can assist designers to select the optimum system combination.