Optimal Allocation of DGs and Capacitor Banks in Radial Distribution Systems

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the integration of Distributed Generators or DGs and capacitor banks in radial distribution system to meet the increased electricity demand and to improve the technical aspects like power loss reduction, voltage profile improvement, etc. Such improvements involve major concerns such as finding the optimal sizing of DGs and capacitor banks and their locations. This article presents the application of two new optimization algorithms: Firefly Algorithm (FFA) and Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA) to solve the optimal placement of both DG and fixed capacitor banks, in order to reduce the power loss and improve voltage profile of distribution system. A detailed performance analysis is carried out on 33-bus and 69-bus radial distribution system to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and the results are compared with the Genetic Algorithm/Particle Swarm Optimization (GA/PSO), Imperial Competitive Algorithm/Genetic Algorithm (ICA/GA) and Analytical approaches available in the literature.