An overview of reliability models and methods for distribution systems with renewable energy distributed generation

This paper presents a review of reliability models and methods for estimating renewable energy resources influence on electrical generation availability. These models and methods may be used to evaluate the impacts on the distribution systems reliability of distributed generation integration, especially when they are based on renewable energy sources. For such, the paper presents the main characteristics of renewable resources models that have been developed for wind, small hydro, solar and biomass, and presents the main methods for reliability evaluation of distribution systems with such resources integrated. These evaluation methods may be based on analytical techniques, Monte Carlo simulation or hybrid approaches. The impact of distributed generation on the reliability of electric distribution systems depends mainly on the operational mode and the energy source in which it is based. The most uncertain case is related to generation based on renewable energy of intermittent nature where the generation availability depends on the availability of the energy source and the availability of the generating unit. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.