Analysis of Distribution Indices For Typical Rural Scenerio
Preet Lata, Shelly Vadhera
National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India
(preetklata@gmail.com, shelly_vadhera@rediffmail.com)
Abstract— Reliability is among one of the most accountable
issues in the power industry today. Power failure is the main
outcome, results from continuous and wide spread use of
electricity. Thus, reliability has emerges as one of the important
phenomenon need to be considered. Quantitative analysis of
power systems reliability can be obtained by reliability indices.
Various methods are introduced and developed over the time to
evaluate reliability indices of the system and thus reliability
assessment of power system. This paper analyses the main
distribution reliability indices (SAIDI, CAIDI, SAIFI, CIII, and
CAIFI). The values are calculated in real time for rural area.
Conclusion is drawn on the basis of determined values. Indices so
obtained are helpful in future planning of power system.
Keywords- Distributed Reliability indices, Rural area,
assessment., quantitative.
I. INTRODUCTION
Main concern of utilities is to deliver uninterrupted power
to load side. To deliver uninterruptable power to load is ideal
case and practically impossible. So, utilities strive for ways
that leads delivery of power to load as reliably as possible with
taking care of cost. Adequate and continuous supply of power
to consumer while taking care of cost is the main concern of
utility. Over the past year, power system has been changed in
its form and operations. Several techniques and devices are
incorporated to power system to make its operations more
adequate and secure.
In a nutshell, it can be stated, that over the time, many new
steps have been taken to increase the reliability of power
systems. Reliability in itself is a vast and complicated issues
and considerable at the same time. Approaches to evaluate
reliability of a power system have been developed over the
period of time and improved in its form and significance.
There are many techniques available to evaluate reliability at
different level of power system i.e. generation, composite
generation and distribution with acceptable accuracy.
Reliability of power systems comprises steady state adequacy
assessment and transient operating reliability i.e. security.
Where, adequacy is the ability of electric utility to
satisfactorily supply the different customers at load end with
taking into account the scheduled and expected unscheduled
outages of system components and security is the ability of
electric system to withstand different faults like sudden
disturbances and components failures.
Reliability comprises of adequacy and security. Both if
evaluate properly can provide a clear view of any power
system. It will help not only in present assessment of any
utility but also in future planning and development of decision
making criteria for power systems. Reliability can be
978-1-4673-6621-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
evaluated at different levels. It can be at generation level,
generation – transmission level, distribution level, or at
composite (i.e. generation-transmission-distribution) level.
More precisely, in reliability analysis, power systems are often
divided into three parts to define the boundaries of the
reliability assessment. These parts are referred to as
hierarchical levels (HL), and are shown in Fig 1, [1].
Fig. 1 Hierarchical levels
To make reliability evaluation comparatively less complex
power system has divided into its functional zones i.e.
Generation, transmission, and distribution, and thus hierarchal
levels are formulated, going from simple to complex leading
to generation level (HLI), composite generation level or bulk
system (HLII), and overall system level (HLIII).
Each level consist some or other part of power system to
create a model for that level to evaluate indices for reliability
evaluation. Indices evaluated at each level provide quantitative
analysis of power system .Most of the reliability assessment is
adequacy assessment. Security assessment being the transient
analysis has to cover a long way in terms of techniques to
evaluate it for power system. Adequacy being the steady state
assessment has many developed techniques for its calculation
for a power system. Transmission level is always combines
with either generation or in some cases with distribution for
reliability evaluation as it has many issues to be considered if
assessed alone for any given network. Probabilistic methods
are used to model the system to evaluate reliability indices.
HLI level take generating stations, generating capacity and
interconnected systems as an input to indices assessment at
generation level. Generating stations, Composite generation
and transmission network, substation and switching station
used for HLII level evaluation. Distribution level consists of
feeders, distributor and service mains. HLIII level uses
information derive from distribution network, substation,
switching station for indices evaluation at distribution level.
Distribution being the most important and independent part of
power system have several indices. Accurate insight of these
indices leads to more reliable delivery of power to load in
spite of their type.
In distribution, reliability indices are introduced, to
measure distribution system reliability. Commonly used
distribution indices to evaluate system s[distribution reliability
include the system average interruption duration index
(SAIDI), momentary average interruption frequency index
(MAIFI), customer average interruption frequency Index
(CAIFI), system average interruption frequency index
(SAIFI), customers interrupted per interruption index (CIII),
and the average service availability index (ASAI), customer
average interruption duration index (CAIDI). These indices
can be recognised as load oriented and customer oriented
indices. These are used to evaluate complete scenario of
reliability of distribution system [2-3].
II.DISTRIBUTION RELIABILITY INDICES
Reliability indices are measures to have quick glance on
system health and conditions. Level of desire reliability is
different for different type of system. Depending on internal
and external conditions, required value of may vary. Indices
can be seen as predictor which indicates whether the system is
getting better or worse. Different goal and structure of any two
systems make it difficult to have comparison between them
and their obtained indices. This means reliability indices are
specific in nature. Indices are totally system specific and
dependent on factors affecting the system and its working.
Distribution can be of AC or DC. Both have their advantages
and disadvantages. More accurate reliable data collection
leads to more correct reliability evaluation.
Reliability indices help in knowing the present status of
power system reliability and deciding the future. Before
improving present reliability of some part, level of reliability
needed and available should be analysed and worth of
reliability should be assessed. Methods such as cost/reliability
curve are available to evaluate the worth of reliability.
Reliability is not a new concept and has considered by many
researchers over the time but its practical implementation yet
in power plant still needs serious workout. Main requirement
or one can say obstacle in reliability is accuracy of data to be
used.
There are many philosophical approaches used for
reliability data collection. For instance, some manager not
eliminate outages while collecting data and processing them
rather they think outages can be minimize or eliminated. They
should be included in any calculations made for indices.
Among some merits of this approach one of the accountable
merit is that, it includes post-storm restoration aspects. It
keeps more accountability for restoration after major events.
Alternately, the IEEE standard 1366 strives to allow managers
to eliminate days having major event and evaluate them
separately from the rest of normal days. However, when it
comes to getting the lights back on, allowing large events to
be treated differently in terms of management response comes
with its own set of hazards. Different handling of outages i.e.
to include them and remove them with detailed description
allows deep insight of problem to manager.
Typically, in reliability evaluation of a power distribution
system dealing with the interruptions, three key factors should
be considered: 1) frequency of the interruptions; 2) duration of
the interruptions; and 3) severity or extent of the interruption.
The first two factors are important from both customer and
utility perspectives, and the third factor could represent the
number of the customers affected or the priority of their loads
[7].
Reliability of service has always been of atmost
importance to electric utility systems. Number of researchers
has done appreciable work in reliability assessment. In
general, In general the procedure associated with evaluation of
reliability consider two main aspect first to consider past
performance and second to predict future behaviour. Both
applications involve the collection of system outage data.
Level of complexity and procedure used in collection of
outage data is totally dependent on the application for which it
is used.
Fig 2 describes the reliability indices categorization, which
clearly shows that reliability is assessed at each stage of power
system.
Fig. 2 Rreliability assessment indices category
In this paper, distribution reliability has been discussed by
calculating some of the above stated distribution reliability
indices. These include SAIDI, CAIDI, SAIFI, CIII, and CAIFI.
These are briefly described with their role in distribution
reliability evaluation as per IEEE P1366.
A. System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI)
SAIDI, or system average interruption duration index, is
commonly are minutes or hours for which customer is out
service or not served by the utility. It is designed to provide
information to the average time the customers are interrupted.
It is the total restoration time for each interruption event times
the number of customers interrupted for every interruption
event separated by the total number of customers [3].
SAIDI is a measure of duration. It measures the number of
minutes over the year that the average customer is without
power. To calculate SAIDI, reliability data required to have
insight of each interruption during the time period, total
customers, the duration of interruptions, total customers
interrupted.
SAIDI = ∑ (R × N ) / N
t t
(1)
where, Rt= Restoration time, Nt= Total number of
customer interrupted, N= Total number of customers served.
B. Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI)
Customer average interruption duration index is the
average time needed to restore service to the average customer
per sustained interruption. It is the sum of customer
interruption durations divided by the total number of customer
interruptions [3].
CAIDI is calculated using reliability data that includes
knowledge of each interruption occur during particular cycle,
the duration of interruptions, total customers, and total
customers interrupted..
CAIDI = ∑ (R t × Nt ) / ∑ Nt (2)
C. System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI)
System average interruption frequency SAIFI is a measure
of the number of times the average customer experiences an
interruption in supply. For SAIFI, an interruption is a loss of
supply for longer than one minute. [5].
As per IEEE P1366 System average interruption frequency
index counts the average number of times for which a system
customer is out of service during the time period under study.
It is dimensionless number.
SAIFI = ∑(N / N )
t
(3)
D. Customer Average Interruption Frequency Index (CAIFI)
The CAIFI measures the average number of interruptions
per customer interrupted. It is calculated on annual basis. It is
the number of interruptions that occurred separated by the
number of customers affected by the interruptions.
CAIFI = ∑ (N ) / ∑ NI t
(4)
E. Customers Interrupted per Interruption Index (CIII)
As per IEEE P1366 customers interrupted per interruption
index (CIII) gives the average number of customer out of
service during an outage. It is reciprocal of CAIFI.
CIII = ∑(N ) / ∑ N
t I
(5)
Where, N I =Number of interruptions
II. CASE STUDY
Real time data of 11 kilovolts feeder for three urban areas
and three rural areas is collected and distribution indices are
calculated. Calculations are carried out with the help of
working data taken from 1st May 2015 to 9th May 2015.
Results are obtained, using the formulas given above while
describing each respective indices. Load used comprises of
domestic urban and rural, as well as rural irrigation power
usage.
III. RESULTS
The portion of the electric power system which links the
bulk power source or sources to the consumer's facilities is
term as distribution system. To measure the continuity of
service distribution service reliability indices, such as those
defined in the IEEE 1366 standard, are easy way and also
define present health of system and its future performance.
The information on short- and long-term system health can
easily be provided by distribution indices. Five years of data
collection results in long-term trends. Since all utilities are
different in some way or other and external conditions too
change constantly, a year-to-year comparison between utilities
is less meaningful. By measuring their indices, utilities are
taking a good step toward informed reliability decision
making. Many administrative capabilities, such as worst
circuit analysis, are enhanced through the use of these
measurements. At least five year of measurements and data
collection is requires to say something about a utility long
term operation and its future prediction. Data collection
methodology plays a important role in deciding the
fruitfulness of indices thus evaluated.
Table 1 include the processed data derived from real time
data of an 11KV feeder feeding urban as well as rural load.
Results obtained are shown in Table 2. Values found, if
properly observed can be of great utility for distribution
utility.
SAIDI helps in finding the average availability of utility to
its customer. Greater the SAIDI value lower will be the
average availability of utility to its customer. SAIDI or system
average interruption duration index, is commonly referred to
as customer minutes of interruption or customer hours, here it
is providing the information of average time the customers are
interrupted on 9th May. All other values are dependent on one
other as can be seen from equations. So if distribution indices
found above are calculated and compared against different
time scenario, then they can be of great help for Indian
electricity utilities.
 CAIDI, customer average interruption duration index in TABLE II
table 2 gives the average time needed to restore service to the DISTRIBUTION INDICES
average customer per sustained interruption on the same day.
SAIFI, system average interruption frequency index gives Distribution Indices Values
here, the average frequency of sustained interruptions per
customer over the total number of customer residing in System average interruption duration index 23.1185
particular area taking into consideration in real time data.
CAIFI, customer Average Interruption Frequency Index Customer average interruption duration index 28.9265
gives average number of interruptions per customer
interrupted on 9th May. For the same day, the average number System average interruption frequency index 0.79921
of customer interrupted during an outage given by customers
interrupted per interruption index (CIII). In short, on looking
distribution indices, one can easily tell about the current state Customers interrupted per interruption index 449
of power system and with the help of data collected from
distribution utility, parameters showed in Table 1 are obtained. Customer average interruption frequency 0.00222
With the help of Table 1 distribution indices given in Table 2 index
are obtained. This is primitive work in planning the future
power system. These have to be compared with distribution
indices of future or past indices to draw some meaningful
conclusion. IV. CONCLUSION
Duration of total interruption hours in rural area of India is
quiet high in comparison with western country scenario This paper describes some of the distribution indices for
according to literature stated in [8]. Distribution system typical Indian rural power scenario. Results shown can be of
reliability assessment can be divided into two basic segments great help for one, who wants to have a quick look on current
of measuring past performance and predicting future status of any distribution system. Results if compared for
performance. Evaluation of past and future performance helps different time and date of same year or different year, builds a
in making the system more reliable and efficient. It also helps great data for future planning and can be a solid tool to
in knowing the current change of need of any particular increase the reliability of rural India.
system.

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