Loss reduction via network reconfigurations in Distribution Networks with Photovoltaic Units Installed

The penetration of Renewable Energy Resources in Distribution Networks (DNs) is increasing rapidly, thus traditional issues regarding the DN operation should be faced through a different perspective that concerns dynamic behavior for both the distributed load consumption and power generation points of a network. Within this context, loss minimization in DNs by network reconfigurations should be examined subject to the variations regarding the load composition of the network due to the presence of Distributed Generation (DG) units. In this paper, the influence of Photovoltaic (PV) units installed in DNs to the optimal reconfiguration for loss reduction is investigated. The problem is stated, and a three level formulation is proposed in order to describe how the problem should be faced for an exhaustive and thorough analysis. Moreover, a simplified version of this proposed methodology is adopted in this work considering a two-stage sensitivity analysis: a spatial sensitivity analysis regarding the distribution of the PV units, and a quantitative sensitivity analysis concerning the penetration of the PV units in respect to the capacity of the network. The methodology is applied to three DNs by the published literature, and the results provide useful conclusions regarding the effect of the spatial distribution level along with the installed capacity of the PV units to the optimal reconfigured solution.