A comparative analysis of SPSO and BPSO for power loss minimization in distribution system using network reconfiguration

Abstract

This paper presents an effective methodology, to solve the Distribution Network Reconfiguration (DNR) problem using Selective Particle Swarm Optimization (SPSO) algorithm which aims at finding the best radial operating configuration that minimizes the power losses of the system while satisfying the imposed operating constraints. The algorithm is a simple modification of Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) where the search space is selective. To demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method a comparative analysis of SPSO with BPSO for network reconfiguration, under four different load levels, namely base, light, medium and heavy, on 33-bus and 69-bus radial distribution system is presented. Test results have shown that SPSO can effectively ensure loss minimization with better convergence characteristics and improved voltage profile as compared to BPSO.