Hybrid design of optimal reconfiguration and DG sizing and siting using a novel improved salp swarm algorithm

Numerous researches for enhancing the radial distribution networks (RDNs) focused solely on optimizing either the installation of distributed generation (DG) or distribution network reconfiguration (DNR). Nevertheless, very little researchers were performed on the DNR concurrently with the DG size and location. This paper shows how to use the Improved Salp Swarm Algorithm (ISSA) to solve optimal DNR and DG placement problems concurrently. The main objective of this work is for finding the optimal DNR and DG siting and sizing concurrently for lessening the power loss, cost and ameliorating voltage profile while satisfying all RDN restrictions including radial constraints. For assessing the performance and ability of the presented technique, six different cases are implemented. The effectiveness of the presented ISSA was verified and tested on IEEE 33 bus RDN under three loading conditions, starting from light to peak load condition. The ability of the ISSA was compared with original SSA and other approaches appeared in the literature. The simulation analysis indicated that the ISSA providing good results than those provided by original SSA and other techniques in all cases. Also, the minimum power loss, lowest cost, and better bus voltage profile were attained when the DNR simultaneously employed with the optimal DG siting and sizing. Furthermore, simulation results demonstrated that ISSA could produce better results than other methods, as ISSA's searching ability and efficiency were significantly improved over the original SSA method. This improvement in the results was achieved by incorporating the inertia weight factor in the SSA search procedure. As a result, when compared to other algorithms, ISSA is becoming another successful method to solve optimal DNR combined with DG sizing and positioning problem in RDN.