Fostering restoration and power delivery efficiency by distributed generators and line switches in electricity distribution network

Abstract

ABSTRACT The distribution of power is being faced with challenges during and after extreme weather events. This contingent might cause a partial or full power blackout in the distribution territory. Hence, the restoration of the service is one of the key concerns of the utilities. A strategy is adopted to felicitate the power restoration process by the deployment of distributed generators (DGs) and line switches. A fuzzy-based system model is proposed to allocate line switches considering the impact of wind-driven extreme weather and the fault frequency character of the lines. The study further recommends an arrangement of dispatchable DGs in the sections of the distribution grid. A particle swarm optimization-based model is proposed for suitable capacity and location assessment of the DGs to foster the restoration of supply avoiding voltage and frequency disturbances in the developed sections of the grid. The results are further verified with the application of the grasshopper optimization algorithm on the multipurpose composite objective function. The proposed DG allocation approach escalates the network power loss reduction by 95.10%, improvement in average voltage stability level by 6.46%, and loadability margin enhancement by 37.37% when the DGs are operated in grid-connected mode. Moreover, power supply reliability is restored with successive employment of DG units. The proposed approach has been tested on an Indian 28-bus power distribution network. The outcome of the proposed approach is compared with existing DG allocation methods. The experiment confirms the credential of the proposed approach with better value addition in multiple objectives.