Optimal switch placement for automatic reconfiguration of distribution system in presence of DGs

Integration of large scale Distributed Generation would call for adequate planning in order to optimize the system operation, enhanced reliability and reduced losses. However, the maximum tolerable DG integration capacity gets limited by voltage variation and power flow constraints. These limitations can be optimized with an automatic reconfiguration of the system based on the present system state and could result in maximizing capacity. The location of switches in a network plays a key role in system reconfiguration. In this paper, a technique for placement of minimal switches in the presence of non-controllable consumer level DGs is developed. The locations are determined based on load flow approach and Monte-Carlo simulations to ensure reliability over random system behavior. The performance of the proposed approach is tested on a simplified distribution network and the effectivity of the numerical results is analyzed.