A modified branch-exchange heuristic algorithm for large-scale distribution networks reconfiguration

This paper presents a modified branch-exchange heuristic method for reconfiguration of large-scale radial distribution networks to minimize real power loss. Unlike the conventional fundamental loops, the loops of the distribution networks are redefined like in the circuit meshes. The proposed method is based upon the successive branch-exchange in the ranked loops and the ranking of loops has also been made dynamic with successive branch-exchange. In order to investigate the effectiveness, the proposed heuristic method has been applied to three medium to large-scale distribution systems for loss minimization. The application results are also compared with existing heuristic and meta-heuristic methods.