A new intelligent optimization technique for distribution systems reconfiguration

The loss minimization problem is one of the most important problems to save the operational cost in distribution systems. Therefore, more efficient approaches are required to handle such a combinatorial problem. This paper presents an efficient meta-heuristic method for reconfiguration of distribution systems. A Tabu Search (TS) algorithm is used to reconfigure distribution systems so that active power losses are globally minimized with turning on / off sectionalizing switches. TS algorithm is introduced with some modifications such as using a tabu list with variable size according to the system size; this should lead to robust algorithm, and prevent cycling. Also, a random multiplicative move is used in the search process to diversify the search toward unexplored regions. A new method to check the radial topology of the system is presented. The proposed method is applied to 32-node and 69-node distribution systems. The obtained results using the proposed TS approach are compared with results obtained using Simulated Annealing (SA) approach and Parallel Tabu Search (PTS) approach in the previous work to examine the performance.