Multi-period reconfiguration planning considering distribution network automation

This paper presents an approach for multi-period reconfiguration planning of distribution networks where remotely controlled and supervised switches (automated switches) are installed. The proposed approach employs a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model that explicitly considers the influence of the automated switches on the interruption duration (interruption cost). It enables obtaining a set of noninferior solutions (reconfiguration plans) in each period. These plans are then used within the dynamic programming framework to identify and evaluate a number of high-quality multi-period reconfiguration plans by employing the backward induction. In this way, the proposed approach overcomes two shortcomings of the decomposition network reconfiguration planning methods: i) too short a planning horizon and ii) too few generated and evaluated alternatives. The presented results show the potential of the proposed approach to improve the multi-period reconfiguration planning process in distribution networks with automated switches.