Network reconfiguration in balanced and unbalanced distribution systems with high DG penetration

This paper presents a simple and efficient reconfiguration approach for balanced and unbalanced distribution networks with DG. The proposed approach that is based on load flow, begins with meshed networks by closing all tie switches. Branch currents were used as switching index to determine the open/closed states of the tie and sectionalizing switches with an objective of system losses reduction. The radial configuration was restored by opening the switch with smallest switching index in each loop. The proposed method has been tested on one balanced and two unbalanced systems with and without distributed generation, and compared with those reported in the literature.