Social welfare maximization for optimal allocation of wind turbines in distribution systems

One of the most important topics associated to the integration of wind turbines (WTs) into distribution systems is their siting and sizing. Inappropriate allocation of WTs in distribution systems not only leads to threaten the system operation but also to decrease consumers´ benefits. In this paper, a new methodology is proposed to allocate WTs in distribution networks. An optimal power flow (OPF) is used to determine the optimal placement of WTs that maximizes the system Social Welfare (SW). The method is solved by using Step-Controlled Primal Dual Interior Point Method (SCPDIPM) considering network constraints and its effectiveness has been verified on an 83-bus 11.4 kV radial distribution system. By yielding location-specific WTs capacity settlement both in terms of cost reduction and consumers´ benefits is consistent with distribution network topology and limitations and can help resource developers to better allocate WTs.