DG Allocation with Consideration of Costs and Losses in Distribution Networks Using Ant Colony Algorithm

Because of the great benefits of distributed generation (DG) resources, such as inexhaustible and nonpolluting, they have more influence in the power industry, especially in distributed networks. DGs such as fuel cells, solar cells, wind turbines and micro gas turbines, etc. are going to be installed in demand side of power systems. Such DGs can reduce power losses if they are placed appropriately in the distribution networks. In this paper presents ant colony algorithm for optimal placement and sizing of DGs in radial distribution networks for the purpose of cost minimization. The objective function includes the cost of power losses and installed DGs cost. By applying the proposed method, the economic cost and power losses are reduced to a considerable degree while enhancing the voltage profile. Algorithm to optimize the objective function written in Matlab and simulation results are investigated on a test case from a section of Tehran distribution network consisting of 13 buses.