Reconfiguration of distribution network considering location and size of distribution generations using hybrid ant colony optimization and artificial bee colony

Nowadays due to development of distribution systems and increase in electricity demand, the use of distributed generation (DG) sources and network reconfiguration in parallel are increased. This paper proposes a new multi-objective optimization to optimize network topology and allocation of DG in distribution network. In the proposed algorithm, ant colony optimization provides the network configuration and the artificial bee colony algorithm optimizes the location and size of DGs. An external repository is considered to save non-dominated (Pareto) solutions found during the search process. Moreover, a fuzzy-based decision maker is adopted to select the ‘best’ compromised solution among the non-dominated optimal solutions of multi-objective optimization problem. The objectives consist of minimize network power losses, better voltage regulation and improve the voltage stability within the frame-work of system operation. The proposed algorithm is implemented on the IEEE 33-bus distribution test system. Furthermore, the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm compared to those of other methods.