Optimal Planning of Conductors and Capacitors in a Distribution Network Using a Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm

The optimum planning of power distribution networks is one of the most important research fields for electrical engineers. Normally in a distribution system, operational costs are high because of their losses. In this paper, the practical planning of the distribution system includes the selection of optimal conductor size and capacitor placement in the radial distribution network considering the increasing rate of loads. Technical operational constraints are available conductors and capacitors, voltage limit, maximum permissible carrying current of conductors, and maximum reactive power that could be injected, without overvoltage. The objective function includes the cost of power losses, capacitors, and conductors, also the above constraints are added as penalty functions to the objective function. In this paper, the minimization problem is solved using an effective hybrid method of GA and PSO, which is called HGAPSO. By applying the proposed method, the final cost of network planning, losses, and their cost are considerably reduced and the voltage profile of the network has improved to a semi-flat shape. In the minimization process, an efficient algorithm is used to solve the radial distribution power flow problem in complex mode, which makes it easier to get system data iteratively. Simulation results are investigated on a sample radial distribution network. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid method is proved by comparing the results with the results obtained from PSO.