Coordinated feeder reconfiguration and Volt-VAr control -

Abstract

Electrical distribution networks have a meshed structure, however they are normally operated as radial. Thus, these networks can benefit from feeder reconfiguration algorithms to improve the efficiency and reliability of power delivery. Volt-VAr Control (VVC) is important for distribution networks in order to maintain voltages at the buses within predefined limits; VVC also minimizes the active power loss in the network. The objective of this thesis is to minimize the total active power loss in the network without violating any technical constraints and while maintaining a radial structure. Towards this end, a coordinated feeder reconfiguration and VVC algorithm is proposed. A convex relaxation of the optimal power flow problem is used for optimal switch exchange, and it is compared with the classical switch exchange method that is based on the minimum current principle. On the other hand, the discrete coordinate descent method and a simplified version of it are also implemented and tested for VVC. The coordinated VVC and feeder reconfiguration algorithm is compared with the standard practice of running VVC after the network is reconfigured. Numerical results are reported on distribution networks with up to 3000 buses.