A simulated annealing-based automation of distribution systems

This work presents a simulated annealing (SA) method to resolve the service automation (restoration and reconfiguration) problems. The service restoration problem formulation proposed herein considers different objective functions related to maximizing the amount of total load to be restored as well as minimizing the number of the switching operations, deviation of the bus voltage, the feeder´s current and transformers loadings. In the interactive method, the dispatcher provides his anticipated value (the degree of preference) of each objective, and then the optimization problem is solved by the simulated annealing approach. In reconfiguration problem, the choice of the switches to be opened is based on the calculations of voltage at the buses, real and reactive power flowing through lines, real power losses and voltage deviation, using a distribution load flow (DLF) program. Analyzing the results from the former interactive and updating the expected value of each objective function via the interactive procedure allows deriving the compromised or satisfied solution efficiently. Simulation results obtained from a 33-bus distribution system demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution algorithm. The results reveal the fast speed and the effectiveness of the proposed methods for solving the problems.