Optimizing network reconfiguration to reduce power loss and improve the voltage profile in the distribution system: A practical case study

Abstract

The electricity provider incurs a high costs and investments to transfer the electrical power to customers in the distribution network. Hence, the reliability of the distribution network (DN) is particularly important in the lives of customers. A distribution system faces many issues due to its direct impact of the voltage profile (VP) and power losses (PL) problems. The aim of this study is to provide an effective scheme to address the of VP and PL problems. In this research, a Selective Particle Swarm Optimization (SPSO) algorithm was used to find combination of switches to enhance VP and reduce PL. The proposed method has been tested in the distribution network system, 125-buses Sigeri-Makassar Indonesia. There are three kinds of considered load scenarios, namely: nominal load; active power load increase; active and reactive power load increase. The research results indicated that the VP of the system can increased from 0.918 pu to be 0.922 pu and decreased PL from 0.6482 MW to be 0.6052 MW; the VP can increased from 0.895 pu to be 0.901 pu and reduced PL from 1.0469 MW to be 0.97532 MW, the VP can increased from 0.895 pu to be 0.900 pu and reduced PL from 1.1929 MW to be 1.0758 MW, for scenarios 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The simulation results showed that the proposed method provides optimal solution, which can enhance the VP and reduce PL. This is indicated that the proposed method is an effective strategy for enhancing voltage stability and solve PL problem.

Keywords

• Distribution
• Network
• Power losses
• Reconfiguration
• Voltage