Adaptive Topology Reconfiguration in Smart Distribution Networks

Abstract

The proliferation of diverse power entities (e.g. renewable generation, electric vehicles and storage) in the active Distribution Networks (DNs) offers many advantages while also introducing reliability challenges due to over-voltage and under-voltage conditions in DN buses and overcurrents in the DN lines. The focus of this work is to enable the adaptive reconfiguration of the electrical topology of the DN in order to proactively mitigate these inefficiencies. The cyber-physical nature of the modern DN facilitates the exchange of carefully crafted signals amongst actuating and monitoring power entities in the DN. These signals are designed to iteratively solve the topology reconfiguration problem that is a mixed integer non-linear program. The non-convexities inherent in this formulation are addressed by applying strategic decompositions that lead to sub-problems for which exact convex relaxations exist. Strong convergence properties and performance guarantees are established from theoretical constructs of S-procedure, Schur's complement, and additive separability. Simulation studies conducted on practical DN settings and comparisons with the state-of-the-art highlight the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.