Optimal Power Distribution Systems Configuration and Switching Sequence Procedure Determination

This paper presents a methodology and a computational tool for power distribution systems planning based on load spatial analyses and providing an optimal system configuration, with regard to substation load balancing, and an effective switching operation sequence allowing the improvement of system reliability and power quality. The proposed optimization algorithm is a two-stage procedure. The first procedure determines the optimal distribution system configurations and the second procedure determines the sequence of switching operations required to convert the original system configuration into the optimal system configuration obtained previously. It is proposed two different approaches for the optimal distribution system configuration determination. A distribution system comprising several substations is selected for the simulation and the efficiency of the proposed method is verified.