Optimal placement of DG Units and Network Reconfiguration for Power Loss Minimization and Voltage Profile Improvement in Distribution Network

This paper address an effective intelligent computational algorithm of Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) is applied for solving reconfiguration problem in a Radial Distribution System (RDS). The proposed ALO method inspired by imitates the hunting apparatus of ant lions in nature. The prime objective of the problem is identifying optimal network reconfiguration simultaneously with DC allocation and sizing for power loss minimization and voltage stability enhancement in a Radial Distribution System. Numerical example with IEEE 33-bus system is considered to validate the performance of ALO. The simulation results of voltage profile, power loss, optimal location and size of DG are numerically and graphically presented. The proposed ALO approach effectively minimizes the power loss and enhances the voltage stability of RDS. The assessment of solutions in MATLAB software shows the usefulness of the ALO in the distribution network. It is observed that the proposed method performed well compared to the other available methods in literature.