NETWORK RECONFIGURATION IN DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEMS USING SIMULATED ANNEALING

A modified simulated annealing technique is applied to network reconfi guration for loss reduction in distribution systems. A set of simplifi ed line flow equations is first presented for approximate loss calcula tion. The loss profile of the whole system can be computed in a straig htforward single-pass manner. Then an efficient perturbation scheme an d an initialization procedure determining a better starting temperatur e for the simulated annealing arc proposed. It follows that the comput ation time of the simulated annealing can be greatly reduced without d egrading the solution quality. In addition, the effects due to switchi ng limitation involved in network reconfiguration can be considered. T he first operation is found to be the most effective with regard to lo ss reduction. A salient feature of the method is that it can quickly p rovide a global optimal or near-optimal solution to the network reconf iguration problem. To verity the effectiveness of the proposed method. comparative studies are Conducted on three test systems with rather e ncouraging results.