Loss Minimization and Allocation of Unbalanced Radial Distribution Network

Abstract

In this thesis it has been tried to discover the possibilities of loss minimization in unbalanced radial electrical power distribution networks. It has been found that the losses can be minimized by two main methods, which are network reconfiguration and optimal placement of DG and capacitor. To apply these remedial steps on the distribution networks an efficient load-flow solution method for three-phase unbalanced radial distribution network has been proposed so that the actual condition related to node voltage and its angle, branch current, real power loss, reactive power loss, branch losses etc. of the network can be computed. Simple equations are used to relate the sending-end voltage, receiving-end voltage and voltage drops in each branch of the distribution system. An algorithm is developed to find out the respective parameters. The angle of the receiving-end voltage is also computed along with the magnitude of the voltage. It is an iterative method. The flat voltage (1p.u.) start from substation to every end-node is considered. The voltage magnitude and angle are updated after each successive iteration and the voltage drops are then computed by using the new obtained values of voltage magnitude and angle. The proposed method has been implemented on 19-node and 25-node unbalanced distribution networks. The comparison of speed requirement by the proposed method with the other recent method has been verified to show its efficiency. In power distribution network losses occurring in the network are one of the important components, and effort should be done to reduce their value. There exist different approaches for loss minimization and most important one is, reduction of distribution network losses by network reconfiguration. In the present work 19-node and 25-node unbalanced distribution networks have been considered for loss reduction. Fuzzy firefly algorithm is applied to find out the optimal configuration of the system with minimum losses, giving the status of opened and closed switches.