An Overview of Automation in Distribution Systems

Electrical power distribution system plays an important role in delivering electricity to consumers in the power system. Electrical power utilities are extensively adopting the computer-aided monitoring, control and management of electric power distribution system to provide many improvements in the consumer services increasingly. Therefore, research and development activities are being carried out extensively to automate the electric power distribution system which are applying recent advancements in the area of Information Technology (IT) and data communication system. Flexible control of distribution systems, which can be used to enhance efficiency, reliability, and quality of electricity services is implemented by the automation in the distribution field. Nowadays worldwide research and developments are emphasized on the area of communication technologies revolution and application of IEC61850 protocol in the distribution system automation and try to lead it to higher intelligence and efficiency. In this paper, a brief overview about the distribution system automation is presented. The information given in this paper is useful to electric power distribution utilities and academicians involved in research and development activities in the area of power distribution automation.