Reconfiguring Distribution Networks by Means of Minimizing Power Loss and Considering Overcurrent Protection

This paper studies the reciprocal of distribution network protection and reconfiguration of an active distribution network (AND). Accordingly, a distribution network reconfiguration is carried out to find the optimal switching operations. Since the switching operations will change the network topology and the short circuit level of the buses, the protection coordination may be invalid. To address this issue, constraints of the coordination of the protection relays and fuses are formulated and added to the reconfiguration problem. Moreover, the nonlinear equations of the problem are linearized and transform the reconfiguration problem into Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) to achieve the global optimal solution. The proposed method was implemented on a 33-bus distribution network. The results clearly show the effectiveness of active and reactive power management in an intelligent distribution network considering protection concepts.