DER Allocation and Line Repair Scheduling for Storm-induced Failures in Distribution Networks

TL;DR

This paper presents a stochastic optimization approach for DER allocation and line repair scheduling in distribution networks affected by storms, aiming to improve recovery efficiency and reduce costs.

Contribution

It introduces a two-stage stochastic mixed integer program that jointly optimizes DER placement, dispatch, and repair scheduling considering storm-induced failures.

Findings

The model effectively estimates failure probabilities based on storm wind fields.

Optimized DER and repair schedules reduce total recovery costs.

The approach adapts to different storm intensities and resource constraints.

Abstract

Electricity distribution networks (DNs) in many regions are increasingly subjected to disruptions caused by tropical storms. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) can act as temporary supply sources to sustain "microgrids" resulting from disruptions. In this paper, we investigate the problem of suitable DER allocation to facilitate more efficient repair operations and faster recovery. First, we estimate the failure probabilities of DN components (lines) using a stochastic model of line failures which parametrically depends on the location-specific storm wind field. Next, we formulate a two-stage stochastic mixed integer program, which models the distribution utility's decision to allocate DERs in the DN (pre-storm stage); and accounts for multi-period decisions on optimal dispatch and line repair scheduling (post-storm stage). A key feature of this formulation is that it jointly optimizes electricity dispatch within the individual microgrids and the line repair schedules to minimize the sum of the cost of DER allocation and cost due to lost load. To illustrate our approach, we use the sample average approximation method to solve our problem for a small-size DN under different storm intensities and DER/crew constraints.