A New Method for Distribution Network Reconfiguration Analysis under Different Load Demands

The strategies of distribution network reconfiguration are applicable for minimizing power loss and saving electrical energy in the distribution system. Network reconfiguration is usually represented by constant load demand so ignoring the variability of load demand causes uncertainty and misleading results in the minimization of power loss. This paper consists of two parts: first, the reconfiguration was accomplished using an optimization framework based on constant load to find sets of optimal switches. The minimization of active power loss was taken as an objective function while bus voltage, branch current and system radiality were taken as system constraints. The study was applied to a 33-bus test distribution network, which is exceedingly used as test examples for solving reconfiguration problems. Second, lists of the configurations set obtained from the first part, as well as other different optimization methods proposed earlier under constant load demand were taken as test switches. Additionally, the network in the presence of distributed generators was taken to analyze the reconfiguration under an active network. Two types of load demands; the variable load and voltage-dependent load, are proposed to represent the practical load demands. This paper presents a new method for good analysis as it defines the effect of loading levels and loading patterns on a distribution system performance for passive and active networks. The proposed approach tries to find the actual power loss under different characteristics of loads. Therefore, the probable benefit of this approach is the contribution to providing more flexibility for electrical utilities in terms of distribution system operation, while also opening new prospects in the automation of smart distribution systems.