Performance Enhancement of Distribution Systems via Distribution Network Reconfiguration and Distributed Generator Allocation Considering Uncertain Environment

The emergence of dispersed generation, smart grids, and deregulated electricity markets has increased the focus on enhancing the performance of distribution systems. This paper proposes a method to reduce the energy loss and improve the reliability of distribution systems by performing distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) and distributed generator (DG) allocation. In this study, the intermittent nature of renewable-based DGs and the load profile are considered using a probabilistic method. The study investigates different annual plans based on the seasonal power profiles of DGs and the load to minimize the combined cost function of annual energy loss and annual energy not served. The proposed method is implemented using the firefly algorithm (FA), which is one of the meta-heuristic optimization algorithms. Several case studies are investigated using the IEEE 33-bus distribution system to highlight the effectiveness of the method.