NETWORK RECONFIGURATION IN DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEMS USING SIMULATED ANNEALING

A modified simulated annealing technique is applied to network reconfiguration for loss reduction in distribution systems. A set of simplified line flow equations is first presented for approximate loss calculation. The loss profile of the whole system can be computed in a straightforward single-pass manner. Then an efficient perturbation scheme and an initialization procedure determining a better starting temperature for the simulated annealing arc proposed. It follows that the computation time of the simulated annealing can be greatly reduced without degrading the solution quality. In addition, the effects due to switching limitation involved in network reconfiguration can be considered. The first operation is found to be the most effective with regard to loss reduction. A salient feature of the method is that it can quickly provide a global optimal or near-optimal solution to the network reconfiguration problem. To verity the effectiveness of the proposed method. comparative studies are Conducted on three test systems with rather encouraging results.