Simultaneous Distribution Network Reconfiguration and DG allocation for loss reduction by Invasive Weed Optimization algorithm

Distribution Network Reconfiguration (DNR) and optimal placement of Distributed Generators (DGs) are two major approaches to reduce losses of distribution networks. In this paper a new method to reduce network loss with the simultaneous utilize of these two issues is presented. For this purpose, the DNR and determining sizing and sitting of DG is modeled as an optimization problem for minimizing the total loss of the system considering operation constraints. An evolutionary algorithm called Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO) algorithm is used to solve this problem. Moreover, the graph theory and tree condition for a graph are used for radiality checking during the DNR problem solution. The proposed method is applied to both IEEE 33-Bus radial test system and Khoram Abad city real network. Assessment all optimization results show the effectiveness of the proposed method for loss reduction.