Power loss minimization in radial distribution systems with obstructed solar astronomical model and temperature effect using grey wolf optimization technique

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents implementation of a solar energy-based DG (Distribution Generation) system, which is optimally designed by taking combined effect of solar irradiation and temperature into consideration to minimize the power loss in the Radial Distribution Systems (RDS). A power gap of 35 W/panel is reduced when the solar panel is considered under ambient temperature effect. Novelty of this work lies in the implementation of the obstructed solar astronomical model to improve the accuracy in the prediction of radiation level. In this work, the considered radiation level is determined to be 14.86% of the global radiation data. Consideration of self-shadowing losses for maximum efficiency from PV panels is another significant aspect of this work. Two different test systems are designed by integrating the proposed DG system to IEEE-15 and IEEE-28 RDS. Load Impedance Matrix (LIM) method is adopted to perform load flow in above mentioned test systems due to its single step analysis with faster results unlike traditional Backward Forward Sweep (BFS) method. Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) technique is used to obtain optimal location of DG for both the test systems for its simple evaluation, good flexibility, avoidance of local optimal point and derivation free tool, which makes this technique popular among the other heuristic methods. Following DG allocation in IEEE-15 bus RDS, it is observed that active power loss is reduced by 39.69%. Similarly, for IEEE-28 bus RDS, reduction in active power loss is found to be 41.20% after integration of a DG unit. There is also a remarkable improvement in voltage profile in both systems after integration of DG units.