Optimal Distribution Network Reconfiguration Using Ant Lion Optimizer

With the leaning towards improving the distribution systems performance, network reconfiguration process has emerged as one of the promising strategies. The current study aims to solve the distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) problem by applying an Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) algorithm to dwindle the total active power losses and to enhance the reliability of an IEEE 33-bus test system. To this end, a set of constraints including the nodes voltages, lines' currents and radial topology constraints are considered. So as to evaluate the real power losses, a Backward/Forward algorithm was used in this study and for network reliability assessment, the Energy Not-Supplied (ENS) index is used. Moreover, to check the radiality of the optimal system topology, the union-find with path compression approach is developed in this investigation. For a thorough evaluation of the proposed method's performance in exploring the global optimum, a comparative study with 3 other algorithms (GA (Genetic Algorithm), CFPSO (Constriction Factor- Particle Swarm of Optimization), and GWO (Grey Wolf Optimizer)) was presented in this manuscript. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm was validated against other existing methods in the recent literature. The research findings revealed a significant total power losses minimization by 31.14%, an important total ENS index reduction by 33.35% and an enhancement of the voltage profile as well after the DNR process.