Reliability based optimal distributed generation placement for a radial distribution network

The integration of Distributed Generation (DG) sources are becoming popular nowadays due to their visible environmental and techno-economic benefits to the grid. The benefits of DG insertion in a distribution network are only maximized when they are properly planned and installed at optimal location. A properly planned DG in a network can improve voltage profile, reduce the active power losses and significantly improve system's reliability performance. Various studies have been carried out in this regard to find out optimal sitting and size of single and multiple DGs by considering either voltage sensitivity or loss sensitivity-based objectives and constraints. This paper proposes a methodology for optimal sitting and sizing of Distributed Generation (DG) with the primary objective of improvement in reliability performance due to less attention given to DG reliability-based placement. The objectives considered are improvement in SAIFI, SAIDI and ASUI and reduction in active power losses in the network. The power losses and voltage profile of the network are evaluated based on simple power flow technique. Reliability indices are evaluated using the Reliability analysis tool of ETAP 12.6.0. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated using the Bus 2 of Roy Billinton Test System consisting of 4 feeders and 22 load points. Optimal planning is done for Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) based DG. The test results show DG placement at BUS-17 improved the system's reliability significantly and a size of 1.35 MW resulted in notable reduction in real power losses of the network.