Distribution System Performance Improvement by Optimal Capacitor Placement and Reconfiguration

Abstract

In electrical distribution systems with voltage, current, and radial condition limitations, Network Reconfiguration (N.R) and Optimal Capacitor Placement (OCP) are used to cut power losses and maintain the voltage inside that allowable interval. As a result, intelligent methodologies are used to find an effective way to reduce network power losses. In this paper, an effective strategy and Improved Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (IBPSO) were introduced and explored to limit active power losses in distribution networks through individual network reconfiguration and capacitor placement. The proposed algorithm is utilized and assessed on IEEE 33-bus test systems to identify the best network configuration in terms of power losses. Two distinct scenarios are investigated, and the utility of the suggested technique is demonstrated using MATLAB in steady-state settings, with upgrades in loss reduction for existing algorithms. In addition, the proposed IBPSO-based OCP technique was used with different optimizations that have been published in recent years. This led to the best use of N.R and OCP, which decreased the active loss and made the minimum bus voltage better.