Influence of Lightning, Wind, Trees, and Squirrels on Reliability of Power Distribution Systems

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The objectives of this research pertain to modeling the effects of various environmental factors on reliability of distribution feeders to identify parts of the system with high probability of failures and to provide comparative analysis of actual performance with expected performance. These models will include representation of the effects of lightning, wind, trees, and squirrels on outages in distribution feeders. Methodologies will be investigated to compare observed performance of the systems with expected performance based on selected models for performance benchmarking. The Westar Energy distribution system will serve as a test bed to validate the models and methodologies. Based on the research educational modules will be developed for inclusion in three courses. The intellectual merits of the proposal are: 1) innovative methodologies are presented for determining the effects of environmental factors on power distribution systems, 2) it is based on synthesis of two different disciplines within electrical and computer engineering to address an important problem, 3) it advances the frontier of knowledge in the field of reliability evaluation, 4) it proposes to tackle a real-life problem with significant relevance to society with collaboration of industry, 5) the proposed methodology can be applied to other components of distribution systems as well as other engineering systems, and 6) a well organized plan of activities is proposed for the project. The broader impacts of the proposal are: 1) participation of students from underrepresented groups, 2) education and research training of all the participating students, 4) enhancement of the research infrastructure through collaboration between university and industry, 5) dissemination of the results through professional journals and also web sites to reach broader audience, 6) integration of the research results into courses, 7) advancement of the state of the knowledge in distribution reliability analysis, and 8) higher levels of reliability of electricity supply for the customers, which will increase productivity and satisfaction.