Determination of Optimal Location and Size of Distribution Substations to Reduce Cost, Losses and Improve Reliability

The increasing growth of load consumption and the increasing development of distribution networks have led the specialists of the electrical industry to take more accurate and suitable approaches into consideration to use the maximum capacity of existing networks efficiently. Optimal selection of location and capacity of distribution substations to reduce the cost and improve reliability and prevent the increase of losses for increasing the loadability capacity of the distribution network are among the most important measurements. In the present paper, the optimal placement of distribution transformers (quantity, installation location, optimal capacity, and service area) has been discussed due to the importance of optimization problems in distribution networks. Moreover, electric restrictions such as permitted voltage drop, permitted loading maximum capacity of transformers, permitted limits of loading for low-voltage line, feeding all the loads, and radial structure constraint have been considered, the efficient arrangement of the distribution network for the planning horizon of the desired year is probably to be achieved. Results of studies on the sample distribution network have been compared with the results of another algorithm, which appropriately indicates the efficiency of the proposed objective function.