Power delivery system planning implementing distributed generation

Electric power system deregulation has drastically affected electric system: design, operation, and decision-making concepts. In addition, the pressing need for supplying excessive load growth reliably with an affordable price is creating an opportunity for distributed generation (DG) to be implemented as an alternative option for power delivery system planning (PDSP). This opens the venue for local distribution companies (LDCs), aiming to minimize their investment risks by developing optimum new planning strategies to meet the load growth and satisfy the system performance at minimum cost under different electricity market structures.; In this thesis, two PDSP frameworks and models are developed that focus on implementing DG as an attractive planning option. The first proposed framework integrates a comprehensive optimization model and planners' experience to achieve optimal sizing and siting of DG. This model aims to minimize: DG's investment and generation costs, total payments towards compensating system power losses along the planning period, well as different costs according to the available alternative scenarios. These scenarios vary from, expansion of existing substations and adding new feeders, to system restructuring and/or purchasing power from an existing inter-tie in order to meet the load demand growth. Binary decision variables are employed in the proposed optimization model to provide accurate planning decisions. Furthermore, the proposed model is implemented as a single-period model to achieve the overall investment at the horizon year, and as a multi-period model to obtain the yearly investment plans as well. The second framework is a new heuristic approach for DG capacity investment planning. This framework obtains the optimal DG sizing and siting decisions through the combination of a cost-benefit analysis approach and a new optimization model. The model aims to minimize the LDCs' DG investment and operating costs, load curtailment, as well as payments towards system power losses compensation. Bus-wise cost-benefit analysis is carried out on an hourly basis for different forecasted peak demands and market price scenarios. This approach provides the optimal feasible DG capacity investment plan in the: fixed bilateral contract, as well as competitive electricity market auction scenarios. The proposed heuristic method uses only continuous variables in the optimization model thus easing the computational burden substantially.; The developed frameworks and models are executed successfully with both a typical radial distribution system and the mesh distribution system of the IEEE 30-Bus system. The present-worth analyses of different scenarios were carried out taking into consideration various: traditional alternative planning options, peak loading curves, electricity price fluctuations, and market structures. The obtained results demonstrate both economical and operational contributions for implementing DG in the PDSP problem. The proposed frameworks and models have proven the feasibility of introducing DG as a key element in solving the PDSP problem from the perspective of LDCs.