Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to formulate, document and present a novel optimal distribution substation bus design methodology considering reliability and economics. A simple test system is used to evaluate and compare four common distribution substation bus configurations. Capital, maintenance and operating costs including the costs of system losses as well as the expected customer outage costs have been considered in the formulation. A standard 115 kV/12.47 kV sample system having two alternative configurations for the high voltage side and two alternatives for the low voltage side has been used with this formulation. The results for the optimal design selections have been presented.