Use of optimization methods to form a reserve fund of electric grid enterprises

Carrying out unscheduled repairs caused by emergency outages in rural electric networks 0,38-10 kV tends to increase, this is primarily due to significant wear of power grid equipment in the networks of the class in question. One of the factors contributing to reducing the duration of disconnection during repair work is the provision of the reserve fund of electric grid enterprises with the necessary number of spare parts. In this regard, the article examines the approaches used to date to form the reserve fund of electric grid enterprises, their shortcomings are noted, the most significant of which is the overspending of financial resources when creating an emergency reserve. It is shown that the task of forming a reserve fund of electric grid enterprises can be solved in an optimization formulation, when it is necessary to establish such a combination of the main and spare elements of the considered set of products, with which a minimum cost will be provided when the specified reliability constraints are met. Both exact and approximate methods can be used to solve optimization problems. The article suggests using an approximate method - the method of steepest descent. The use of such a method is justified, since power grid equipment can be classified as reliable products. The method of calculations in accordance with this method is described. To integrate the proposed approach to the formation of a reserve fund into the practice of network enterprises, algorithmic and software has been developed that allows automating calculations for selecting the required number of backup elements that provide the best reliability indicators of electric networks with minimal financial costs.