Impact of Reconfiguration on Optimal Storage Deployment in Active Distribution Networks

Integrating sustainable energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind in an active distribution network brings advantages, such as reduced carbon emissions and free energy, and challenges, such as bidirectional power flow, voltage and frequency variations, a rise in uncertainty, etc. The problems caused by the growing use of renewable energy sources are addressed by integrating energy storage system. Furthermore, storage integration needs optimal planning and dispatch methodologies for the profitable operation of deployed energy storage systems. The study analyses a practical distribution network of Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR) campus modeled in balanced and unbalanced formulations using MATLAB and OpenDSS, respectively. An optimal battery energy storage planning model as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem is proposed for the distribution system, including reconfiguration, using the MATLAB-YALMIP interface. The method concludes that reconfiguration is an important criterion to be considered in the planning and operation problem of energy storage in distribution networks.