Meta-heuristic technique for network reconfiguration in distribution system with photovoltaic and D-STATCOM

This study presents a reconfiguration methodology based on a multi-objective modified flower pollination algorithm (MO-MFPA) that aims to achieve the power loss reduction, minimum load balancing index, and maximum voltage profile in radial distribution networks with photovoltaic (PV) arrays and distribution static compensator (D-STATCOM). Here, PV array is considered as distributed generation and D-STATCOM acts as a distribution flexible AC transmission system. The MO-MFPA is a meta-heuristic technique based on the combination of flower pollination algorithm and cloning selection algorithm. A reconfiguration is done through changing the tie and sectional line positions in the distribution system. At the time of reconfiguration, movement of load node to a set of power nodes secures the radial structure of the network. Voltage stability index is used to pre-identify the most candidate buses for placing PV arrays and D-STATCOM. Then the proposed MO-MFPA is employed to deduce the size and locations of PV arrays and D-STATCOM from the elected buses. For more practical applications, different cases of reconfiguration, PV, and D-STATCOM installation are considered to evaluate the performance approach at different load factors. The proposed method has been effectively tested on IEEE 33, 69, and 118-bus distribution systems and encouraging results have been obtained.