Investigation of network reconfiguration on the reliability and performance of distribution systems using CRO

Modern distribution systems are well equipped with diverse distributed energy resources (DERs), each of them capable of enhancing the reliability and performance of distribution systems to a certain extent. In this context, it is interesting to investigate the impact of network reconfiguration (NR) on further enhancement of these vital objectives for efficient system operation. This paper addresses a thorough investigation of NR for reliability and performance improvement in modern distribution systems considering the presence of shunt capacitors (SCs) and distributed generators (DGs). The complex combinatorial NR problem is solved using a recently developed chemical reaction optimization (CRO) algorithm that efficiently deals with the stringent radiality constraint. The investigations are carried out on benchmark IEEE 33-bus test distribution system and results of the analysis are presented explicitly.