Heuristic optimization techniques for voltage stability enhancement of radial distribution network with simultaneous consideration of network reconfiguration and DG sizing and allocations

Abstract

In this paper, heuristic optimization techniques, such as integrated particle swarm optimization (IPSO), teaching--learning-based optimization (TLBO), and Jaya optimization, were applied effectively for the first time to optimize the radial distribution network (RDN) by simultaneously considering reconfiguration of the network and allocation and sizing of the distributed generations (DG). The objectives were to maximize the voltage stability and to minimize the power loss of the network without violating the system constraints. In standard PSO technique, the movement of current particle depends upon global best position and its own best position up to current step. However, if the particle lies too close to any of these positions, the guiding role highly decreases and even vanishes. To resolve this problem and to find the global best solution, IPSO was utilized to optimize the network reconfiguration and DG allocation and sizing problem in the RDN. Also, the optimization techniques, such as TLBO and Jaya optimization, which do not require any tuning of parameters, unlike other heuristic optimization techniques, were implemented successfully in this paper. Seven test cases were generated from different combinations of network reconfiguration and DG allocation and sizing. Moreover, for comparison, the optimization techniques, such as particle swarm optimization (PSO), adaptive cuckoo search algorithm (ACSA), harmony search algorithm (HSA), and fireworks algorithm (FWA), were also applied to IEEE 33- and 69-bus distribution test networks. The comparison results prove overall superiority of Jaya optimization when applied on the two IEEE bus systems with seven test cases undertaken.