Abstract:
Integration of renewable DGs in distributed
networks has become a critical issue in meeting the increasing
electricity demand while considering economic and
environmental impacts. DGs integrated into the electric
distribution network assist with voltage improvement and
power loss mitigation. However, it may also come with other
technical challenges such as stability, reliability and power
quality issues if poorly designed. This would lead to worsening
the performance of the power system and the degradation of
network components. Optimal network reconfiguration has
proven to be very beneficial in effective reduction of power
system losses when simultaneously employed with DG units.
This research reports on the development and valuation of a
proposed metaheuristic optimum network reconfiguration
method for total real power loss decrease in radial distribution
schemes with fixed DG units. The proposed method was
designed in MATLAB and the IEEE 33-bus radial distribution
system was employed in assessing its performance.
