A novel integration technique for optimal network reconfiguration and distributed generation placement in power distribution networks

This paper presents a novel integration technique for optimal network reconfiguration and distributed generation (DG) placement in distribution system with an objective of power loss minimization and voltage stability enhancement. Fireworks Algorithm (FWA) is used to simultaneously reconfigure and allocate optimal DG units in a distribution network. FWA is a new swarm intelligence based optimization algorithm which is conceptualized using the fireworks explosion process of searching for a best location of sparks. The radial nature of the network is secured by generating proper parent node-child node path of the network during power flow. Voltage Stability Index (VSI) is used to pre-identify the optimal candidate locations for DG installation. Six different scenarios are considered during DG placement and reconfiguration of network to assess the performance of the proposed technique. Simulations are carried out on well-known IEEE 33- and 69-bus test systems at three different load levels. The simulated results demonstrate well the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.