Study of reducing losses, short-circuit currents and harmonics by allocation of distributed generation, capacitor banks and fault current limiters in distribution grids

Abstract

The growing interest for researches that focus on renewable energies, as well as the increase in funding for this sector, is thanks to the advantages of renewable energy namely the reduction of environmental impacts and their great reliability. However, to maintain the correct operation of the electrical grid and its quality, it is essential to study the impacts that these generating sources have on the electrical system. The present research paper presents a novel methodology that considers the optimal allocation of photovoltaic distributed generation, capacitor bank, and fault current limiters reactors in distribution feeders, whose purpose is minimizing simultaneous the short-circuit current, active losses and harmonic distortion rate of distribution feeders. For this, a Multi-objective Gray Wolf Optimize has been applied and tested in three different distribution feeders. The result demonstrated that during the entire optimization process, the greatest reduction of the analyzed parameters, which are losses, harmonic distortion rate and short circuit current are associated with the location and number of devices that are allocated in the system.