Power system reconfiguration in a radial distribution network for reducing losses and to improve voltage profile using modified plant growth simulation algorithm with Distributed Generation (DG)

Network reconfiguration which is constrained non linear optimization problem has been solved for loss minimization, load balancing, etc. for last two decades using various heuristic search evolutionary algorithms like binary particle swarm optimization, neuro-fuzzy techniques, etc. The contribution of this paper lies in considering distributed generation which are smaller power sources like solar photovoltaic cells or wind turbines connected in the customer roof top. This new connection in the radial network has made unidirectional current flow to become bidirectional there by increasing the efficiency but sometimes reducing stability of the system.Modified plant growth simulation algorithm has been applied here successfully to minimize real power loss because it does not require barrier factors or cross over rates because the objectives and constraints are dealt separately. The main advantage of this algorithm is continuous guiding search alongwith changing objective function because power fromdistributed generation is continuously varying so this can be applied for real time applications with required modifications. This algorithm here is tested for a standard 33 bus radial distribution system for loss minimization and test results here shows that this algorithm is efficient and suitable for real time applications. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).