Prospectives of Day-Ahead Network Reconfiguration for Smart Distribution Systems Considering Load Diversity

In modern smart distribution systems the flow of active and reactive power among distribution feeders is well managed as they are equipped with optimally placed distributed resources such as shunt capacitors, distributed generations and distributed storages, etc. In this context, it is customary to investigate the relevance of conventional Network Reconfiguration (NR) for loss minimization and node voltage profile enhancement. This paper addresses the effectiveness of NR in smart distribution systems while considering intermittency in load and generation among distribution buses. In addition, the load diversity that exists among distribution buses due to load class mix of diverse customers is considered. Proposed method is applied on the benchmark IEEE 33-bus test distribution system to investigate the relevance of conventional NR over day-ahead reconfiguration. The application results reveal that proposed reconfiguration strategy may be more convenient and useful to distribution system operators. 