Optimal siting and sizing of distributed generation in radial distribution system using a novel student psychology-based optimization algorithm

This paper propounds a new metaheuristic optimization algorithm to obtain the optimum site and size of distributed generation (DG) in radial distribution system (RDS). This problem is concomitant with reducing the active power loss, the total voltage deviation and the voltage stability index of the RDS considering different types of load models (such as constant power (CP), industrial (IL), residential (RES) as well as commercial (COM)). To solve this weighting factor-based multi-objective DG allocation problem, a novel metaheuristic optimization algorithm, student psychology-based optimization (SPBO), is suggested in this article. A multi-criteria approach (such as the analytic hierarchy process) is employed to optimize the weighting factors involved. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that this novel SPBO algorithm is being used for optimal siting and sizing of DGs in the RDS for different types of load models (like CP, IL, RES and COM) for IEEE 33-bus, IEEE 69-bus and practical Brazil 136-bus RDS. The simulation results attained by the proposed SPBO algorithm are compared with the results provided by recently surfaced Harris hawks optimization (HHO) algorithm and other state-of-the-art algorithms. The outcomes prove that the suggested SPBO algorithm is more efficient to solve the optimal multiple DG allocation problem with minimum real power loss, less computational time and prominent convergence rate.