A Novel Reconfiguration Methodology of Radial Distribution Systems for Power Loss Minimization Using Expanded Invasive Weed Optimization

Network reconfiguration (NR) is the change in the topology of the distribution system without violating its radial structure. Many optimization techniques have been proposed to optimize the configuration of the distribution system with/without distributed generators (DG) allocation. In this paper, a novel NR methodology is proposed to speed up the efficiency of finding radial configurations to minimize total active power loss. Then, harmonized NR and DG allocation is presented. Expanded invasive weed optimization (exIWO) is used to solve the optimization problem under investigation. Two case studies are performed on an IEEE 33-bus distribution system. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the proposed NR methodology along with DGs allocation in minimizing the power loss by 74.38%, outperforming the results obtained by other optimizers presented in the literature.