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Reliability Modeling of Distributed Generation
in Conventional Distribution Systems Planning and Analysis

A. A. Chowdhury, Senior Member, IEEE, Sudhir Kumar Agarwal, Senior Member, IEEE, and
Don O. Koval, Fellow, IEEE

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Abstract—

The primary objective of any electric utility company
in the new competitive environment would be to increase the
market value of the services it provides with the right amount
of reliability, and at the same time, lower its costs for operation,
maintenance, and construction of new facilities in order to provide
lower rates for customers. The electric utility company will strive
to achieve this objective via many different means, one of which is
to defer the capital distribution facility requirements in favor of
a distributed generation (DG) solution by an independent power
producer (IPP) to meet the growing customer load demand. In this
case, the distribution capital investment deferral credit received
by the IPP will be dependent on the incremental system reliability
improvement rendered by the DG solution. In other words, the
size, location and the reliability of the DG will be based on the
comparable incremental reliability provided by the distribution
solution under considerations. This paper presents a reliability
model for determining the DG equivalence to a distribution
facility for use in distribution system planning studies in the new
competitive environment.