Review of Concepts and Determinants of Grid Electricity Reliability

Abstract

The reliability of the electricity supply is important since any interruption to the supply has direct and indirect consequences for its users. A reliable electricity supply requires a reliable electrical grid system to transmit and distribute the power from the generating plants to the consumers. This study reviewed the literature to find out how the reliability concept has been understood with a special focus on grid electricity reliability, what factors influence grid electricity reliability, what measures have been used to measure grid electricity reliability, which theories and methodologies have been applied to study grid electricity reliability and what are the likely research gaps that require future address. This review found that the literature documents four categories of factors that influence grid electricity reliability, and these are environmental, security, organizational and technical. The biggest influencers of grid electricity reliability were the technical-related factors followed by the environmental-related factors. In addition, we found that sixty studies focused on one subsystem, eleven on two subsystems while seven studies considered three subsystems. Most studies were found to address the distribution of subsystem reliability. As per the methodology adopted, this review found that eleven studies used a qualitative approach, forty-five studies used a quantitative approach, while eleven studies used a case study approach to study the concept of grid electricity reliability. In addition, we found that thirty-seven studies used the duration and frequency of power outages to measure grid electricity reliability.