Novel interval methods in power system reliability economics

A complete set of interval interest formulas are deduced for economic equivalence calculations based on the interval analysis. Different interval interest formulas are derived from the deconvolution formulas and interval arithmetic for different cash flow types such as single, uniform series, linear gradient series, geometric gradient series, and irregular series cash flow. Two interval decision evaluation methods, i.e. Total Owning Cost (TOC) and Revenue Requirement (RR) are proposed, which form the framework of the interval model of reliability economics evaluation. The investigation on a large scale distribution system demonstrates that the interval-analysis-based approach can be used as an efficient and fast uncertainty analysis tool for reliability economics and provide, in an unprecedented flexible manner, much more useful information than traditional sensitivity analysis. It provides a viable and easy-to-use tool for the power system planning, engineering and operations.