Using mobile emergency generators as reliability enhancers in distribution systems

In this paper, the use of mobile emergency generators (MEGs) is analyzed as a way to improve reliability indices of distribution networks, which is a practice already used by many system operators, but very little studied in the literature. MEGs can be used in the case of faults in distribution systems as devices capable of restoring the power supply to groups of customers that would otherwise be interrupted during the entire duration of the fault. Unlike fixed distributed generation (DG), an MEG can be easily transported between different points on a feeder, and its starting position greatly influences its impacts on reliability, so this work proposes a way to find the MEG's best starting position, considering all the events in which it will have to travel to different nodes. A fault simulation algorithm is also proposed, so that faults are analyzed about their impact on the reliability indices, taking into account that an MEG can be used by the system operator in each fault situation. Simulations are conducted on a real feeder, and reliability indices are compared in different scenarios on this feeder.