An Improved Reconfiguration of a Radial Distribution Network by Using the Minimum Spanning Tree Algorithm

Abstract

The reconfiguration of the architecture of a power distribution system is one of the famous procedures used in the electrical area to optimize losses. This procedure used to find the optimal solution, by changing the state of the switching lines in the network. This type of problem is not a new problem but still represent a challenge to also optimize the cost of the distribution network. In this study, the main goal is to minimize the total power losses of lines. This paper proposes a reconfiguration strategy of distribution system with and without the presence of DGs. This strategy based on prim’s algorithm after used power flow analysis to check the constraints. By using of this method, power losses network is selected as the objective function, and resistance of each edge is considering as weight of lines, aiming to achieve the best solution by reducing power losses of the grid. To improve this method, the proposed algorithm was tested on 33-bus with and without the presence of DGs. The obtained results of the simulation prove that applying this strategy is perfect to reduce power losses of the grid and at the same time, improve voltage profile compared with other recent studies and the initial case.