  Distribution Asset Management is an important task performed by utility
companies to prolong the lifetime of the critical distribution assets and to
accordingly ensure grid reliability by preventing unplanned outages. This study
focuses on microgrid applications for distribution asset management as a viable
and less expensive alternative to traditional utility practices in this area. A
microgrid is as an emerging distribution technology that encompasses a variety
of distribution technologies including distributed generation, demand response,
and energy storage. Moreover, the substation transformer, as the most critical
component in a distribution grid, is selected as the component of the choice
for asset management studies. The resulting model is a microgrid-based
distribution transformer asset management model in which microgrid exchanged
power with the utility grid is reshaped in such a way that the distribution
transformer lifetime is maximised. Numerical simulations on a test
utility-owned microgrid demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model to
reshape the loading of the distribution transformer at the point of
interconnection in order to increase its lifetime.
