Optimal network reconfiguration for power loss minimization and voltage profile enhancement in distribution systems

This paper presents an optimal method for optimizing network reconfiguration (NR) problems in a power distribution system (PDS) for the purpose of power loss reduction and voltage profile (VP) improvement. Furthermore, a modified algorithm was presented to address this problem in order to provide a more efficient PDS. Various works which used NR to improve VP and reduce power loss were discussed and summarized in detail. In particular, a modified Selective particle swarm optimization (SPSO) method was used for NR in existing networks considering different loading conditions. The main objective of this study is to minimize real power losses and enhance VP of a distribution system using the proposed SPSO method. The SPSO method was programmed in MATLAB R2016b software and tested using IEEE 33-bus radial distribution system (RDS). The obtained test results show that the real power was enhanced by 99.341%, 97.289%, and 95.389% for the light, normal, and heavy load conditions, respectively. Also, the minimum voltage level in the worst case was significantly enhanced from 0.8841 p.u. to 0.9510 p.u. Towards the end, a comparative analysis of the proposed SPSO with existing methods for distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) is presented. The comparative results show that the proposed SPSO was found to be more efficient in reducing voltage deviation (VD) and power losses in the system.