Sharif Digital Repository

This article explores the impacts of non-exponentially distributed failures on reliability of microgrids. Failure rate of some components such as power electronic converters is not constant, while they play a major role in microgrids. Consequently, their failure characteristics will affect the microgrid reliability. Hence, the conventional reliability evaluation approaches based on mean time to failure may introduce inaccurate inputs for decision making in planning and operation of microgrids. In this article, different approaches are employed for evaluating the reliability of microgrids with non-constant failure rates. The obtained results indicate that the system reliability remarkably... 

Failure statistics of most utilities indicate that distribution systems make the greatest individual contribution to the unavailability of supply to customers. Optimal capacitor placement in distribution systems has a number of advantages such as reducing losses, improving voltage profile, improving power factor and so on. The conventional objective function of the optimal capacitor placement consists of the total cost of losses and investments. Since capacitors supply reactive loads locally, they improve the load-carrying capability of the lines and therefore play the same role as redundant lines. Thus, optimal capacitor placement can also improve the reliability indices of a distribution...