The power system is one of the most complex systems in existence. In any complex system, it is impossible to avoid abnormal operations. In order to reduce the impact of abnormal operations and to restore the system more quickly to normal states, many control and protection mechanisms are established. Protection systems consist of sensing and isolation devices that operate in the event of a fault to disconnect the part of the power system that is affected by the fault. However, malfunctions can also occur within the protection system. Therefore, one objective of this thesis is to develop approaches for analyzing and modeling the reliability of power systems when the malfunctions of protection systems are considered. A methodology of evaluating reliability of distribution systems are presented. This method uses matrices to represent the relationship of devices in distribution systems and loads. Reliability indices such as SAIFI and SAIDI of the distribution system of IEEE-RBTS bus 2 are calculated using the proposed methodology. Since power utilities are aim to provide reliable electric power with low cost to customers, the investment of protective devices need to be taken into consideration. In this thesis, an optimization problem is presented. The objective in this optimization problem is the cost of disconnects and the constraint is the reliability indice, SAIDI. This reliability-based optimization problem is solved for RBTS distribution system by Genetic Algorithm (GA).
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