Research and application of GIS-based medium-voltage distribution network comprehensive technical evaluation system

Comprehensive technical evaluation plays an important role during the course of plan, design, construction, and operation of the medium-voltage (MV) distribution system. Despite of being extensively researched, the evaluation methodology in the developing countries such as China is still not mature. First, this paper presents the comprehensive technical evaluation theory and methods, and then the hierarchy of evaluation indices is proposed for the MV distribution network. Second, the GIS-based comprehensive technical evaluation system was constructed in accordance with the evaluation methodology. Finally, this paper exemplifies how the distribution network evaluation is implemented systematically for a city district MV distribution network in China. Applications of the evaluation system in many cities of China have convinced the feasibility and practicability to assess MV distribution networks technically and comprehensively. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.