Reliability Enhancement by Strategic Placement of Remotely-Controlled Automation Devices: A Case Study on Tabriz Distribution Network

Abstract

Article history: Received 27 November 2021 Received in revised form 08 March 2022 Accepted 19 March 2022 Achieving high distribution-reliability levels and concurrently minimizing operating costs are as the main issues in distribution system optimization. Determination of the optimal number and location of remote control switches (RCS) in the distribution system network is an essential issue from the reliability and economic points of view. To address these issues, this paper develops a novel multiobjective model from the distribution system viewpoint, wherein the primary objective, optimal RCS placement is implemented aiming at minimizing the operating costs, while in the second objective, the reliability index improvement is taken into account. So, a novel approach from a robust heuristic algorithm, modified non dominated sorting genetic algorithm (MNSGA-II), is developed and presented to solve this multiobjective mixed-integer non-linear programming problem. Simulation results received by the genetic algorithm have been compared with the other popular optimization algorithms, seperately. Results show that the proposed algorithm provides extensively the best performance, in terms of quality of the answer received and computational efficiency. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm was examined by application to two distribution feeders of the Tabriz city distribution network containing the fourth feeder of the TractorSazai substation.