A Method for Extracting Reliability Importance Indices from Reliability Simulations of Electrical Networks

This paper proposes a reliability importance index that is possible to extract from existing reliability simulations at a low additional computational cost. The index utilizes the concept of reliability worth as a measure of system reliability in order to establish the importance of components in systems with several load points. Since the method is based on simulations, it is suitable for large networks with a high level of detail. The index can be used as decision support for asset management, for example where maintenance actions will become most beneficial. The index is evaluated against the background of a number of analytically calculated indices. Furthermore, the index is applied to a network in the Stockholm area. The conclusion of the paper is that the proposed simulation based importance index provides a means of improving analysis of electrical network reliability.