Energy loss reduction by critical switches

A systematic method to derive an optimal switching plan to achieve energy loss minimization for short term and long term operation of distribution systems is presented. The short term optimal switching criterion is developed by binary integer programming with a branch and bound technique. An overall optimization problem is formulated for the optimal switching operation. It is further divided into several subproblems to find the largest energy loss reduction among all possible switching operations between two feeders. A quick method is applied to estimate the largest loss reduction for each feeder-pair in the distribution system during short term switching operation. The composite load profile of each feeder is derived by field tests over a one year period. After determining the hourly optimal network configuration by taking into the account the typical daily load patterns for all the distributed feeders, the long term optimal criterion for each season is derived and the corresponding critical switches are determined. >