OPTIMAL NETWORK RECONFIGURATION AND CAPACITOR PLACEMENT FOR IMPROVING VOLTAGE STABILITY AND NET SAVINGS IN RADIAL DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS.

Abstract

Reducing power losses and regulating voltage stability within the limits of Radial Distribution Systems (RDS) are essential processes to provide quality power to consumers. The power loss minimization and voltage profile improvement are effectively done by optimum network reconfiguration and the placement of the capacitors in RDS. This paper presents the combined methodology of Capacitor placement and Network reconfiguration is properly applied to maximize the net saving cost, minimize the power loss and improve the voltage profile. The size and location of capacitors and tie-line switches of nodes are optimally allocated by the effectual Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm. The MFO is an effective nature-inspired algorithm based on the chemical effect of light on moths as an animal with bilateral symmetry. This algorithm provides a better solution with less computational time by two searching operators of Moth and Flame. The Performance of the MOF is analyzed by a standard test system of 33 and 69-node RDS. The best simulation results of loss reduction, voltage enhancement, and cost-saving are numerically and graphically reported. The dominance of the obtained results is compared with other soft computing methods available in the literature