Optimal soft open point placement and open switch position selection simultaneously for power loss reduction on the electric distribution network

Network reconfiguration through the selection of open switch positions on the electric distribution network (EDN) is an effective solution to reduce power loss on the EDN. However, when the switches are opened, there will be no power flow through the corresponding branches, which may not keep the EDN reaching its best operating condition. This paper considers the optimal problem of Soft-Open-Point (SOP) placement and open switch position selection simultaneously on the EDN to reduce the power loss of the system and consider improving the voltage, current profiles, and maintain the radial-topology structure of the EDN. The effect of the number of SOPs on reducing power loss is also considered by increasing the number of SOPs from zero to maximum number of SOPs that still to ensure the radial-topology EDN structure. Growth Optimizer (GO) is first adjusted for finding the optimal solution for the problem of SOP placement and open switch position selection simultaneously. The considered problem and proposed GO method are applied to two test EDNs consisting 33node and 69-node systems. The GO performance is compared with two well-known genetic algorithm (GA) and cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) and the recently developed northern goshawk optimization algorithm (NGO). The results show that the optimal SOP placement and open switch position simultaneously helps to reduce significantly power loss. The loss reduction compared to the original structure of the two systems in cases of increasing number of SOPs from 0 to 5 is respectively 30.94%, 45.52%, 48.34%, 50.7%, 55.43% and 58.65% for the 33node system, and 56.16%, 58.43%, 61.99%, 63.78%, 72.80% and 75.05% for 69-node system. The optimal SOP placement and open switch position also helps to improve the voltage quality and capacity of the EDN. In addition, GO reaches the better performance than GA, CSA and NGO for the optimal problem of SOP placement and open switch position selection simultaneously.