2004 Internattonal Conference on
-
Power System Technology POWERCON 2004
Slngapon, 21-24 November 2004
Distribution Network Reconfiguration with
Reliability Constraints
A. Coelho , A. B. Rodrigues, M. G . Da Silva, Member, IEEE
Abstract -- Electric Distribution Networks
Reconfiguration is carried out by the openlnglclosing of
switching devices while keeping the feeder’s radial
topology. Traditionally, the reconfiguration of
distribution networks bas been implemented aiming to:
dnimize electric losses in the conductors, to enhance
voltage profiles and balance the feeder’s loads. However,
the proposed methodologiesfor acbievhg these objectives
do not include the reconfiguration impacts on the system
reliability indices. The main aim of this paper i s to
present a methodology for recon6gurating a distribution
network with the objective of minimizing the electric
losses taking into account constraints assodated with:
overloads, voltage drops and violation of the targets for
reliability indices. The proposed methodology for solving
this problem is based on the Parallel Simulated Annealing
algorithm. This methodology allows the generation of
candidate solutions without violating topological
constraintr,.The proposed model has been validated and
t&ed in standard distribution systems.
Index Terms --
Reconfiguration, Optimization,
Reliability, Parallel Simulated Annealing,
Simulated Annealing.
I. INTRODUCIlON
N general, overhead distribution systems have radial
I topology. This topology is used due to the following
advantages: minimization of fault currents, equipment
costs reduction and simplification of protection
coordination procedures. The distribution network
reconfiguration is carried out by the opening and
closing cif switching devices but keeping feeder’s
radial topology. Traditionally, distribution network
reconfiguration has been implemented aiming to:
minimize electric losses, to enhance the voltage
profiles and to balance the feeder’s loads. These
objectives have been achieved using methodologies
such as Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithms and
Tabu Search. Yet, the application of these
AU the authors are with the Elecrricity Engineer D e p m e n i of
ihe Federal University of Maranh5o (UFMA).
Corresponding author: M. G. Da Silva (e-mail:
p i a @ dee.ufma.br).
0-7803-8610-8/04/$20.00 0 2004 IEEE
methodologies in reconfiguration problems does not
consider the inclusion of the reconfiguration impacts on
the system’s reliability indices. Furthermore, in the
current deregulated structure of the electric sector, the
distribution utilities are forced to increase their profits
to guarantee their survival within a competitive
environment and to achieve the reliability targets
stablished by regulatory agencies. In this context, the
network distribution reconfiguration may become an
attractive alternative for electric distribution utilities,
The interest in network reconfiguration is due to the fact
that the opening and closing of switching devices does
not result in additional costs for distribution utilities.
Therefore, it is extremely important to develop
methodologies that account for aspects related to
electric losses, voltage profiles, load balancing and
reliability during the distribution network
reconfiguration. The main aim of this paper is to present
a methodology for reconfigmating a distribution
network with the objective of minimizing electric losses
considering constraints associated with: overloads,
voltage drops and violations of reliability indices
targets. The proposed methodology to solve this
problem is based on the Intensified Simulated
Annealing Algorithm. It yields candidate solutions
without violating topological constraints, that is,
meshed and disconnected networks are not generated in
the optimization process. The proposed models and
techniques have been validated and tested in standard
distribution systems.
This paper is organized in the following way: section
II presents a general formulation of the electric losses.
Section III presents a tool developed for the load flow,
used for the evaluation of losses, voltage drops and
feeder’s loading. Section IV deals with a methodology
for reliability indices evaluation. In section V an
optimization technique for the solution of the
distribution network reconfiguration problem is
presented. Results with the proposed method applied in
a test system are shown in section VI. Finally, in section
VII, the conclusions and the final comments are
presented.
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II. GENERAL FORMULATION OF THE ELECTRICLOSSES example of Back-Forward Sweep [4], where
MINIMIZATIONPROBLEM formulations are based on Kirchhofrs Iaws. This
Active power losses on distribution networks are method presents optimal convergence characteristics for
radial distribution networks. From Figure 1, in
composed of the following parts:
following are the voltages and currents equations for the
Losses by Joule effect in the conductors,
load flow evaluation:
tranformer's coils, etc.;
Error in the billing of supplied power;
Frauds
The first loss in the above list constitutes the
technical losses while the last two are called
commercial losses. The acceptable level of technical
losses varies according to the utility and it depends on
several factors, such as load density in the supplied
+ E4'

region. Technical losses due to line and equipment 14

electric resistance, are continuosly dissipated,
decreasing the electric power available for
consumption in distribution and transmission systems.
Reference values in the field's point 2% of technical
losses for transmission and 5% for distribution [l]. In
Brazil, very often, technical losses for distribution
networks are far beyond those values [2], thus
identifying a promising area for power gains by
reducing losses.
Line electric losses minimization problem due to
resistances can he formulated as follows[3]:
iE S
subject to :
Radiality.
Voltage drops.
Feeder's loading.
System's reliability.
Where:
S is the set of the system line sections;
k and m are the terminal nodes for the section i;
Ek (E,,,) complex voltages for the node k (m);
giis the series conductance for the section i.
The voltages and are evaluated by means of load
flow recursive equations, which structurally are
favorable to schemes of computational solutions.
There are several methods that can be used to
minimize losses in distribution systems. Among them
we can mention: reconductoring (using lower
resistance conductors), capacitors optimal placement,
network reconfiguration (changes in the distribution
network topology) fixed regulators and transformer's
taps.
LIL LOADFLOW
The method used to solve the load Bow problem
was the Current Summation Method, which is an
Figure 1-Circuit Currents and Voltages Representation.
(3)
(4)
where :
1, e l , are the currents in bus k and m.
I , is the current in branch km.
F,,,is the set of bus fed by bus m.
s, is the complex power in bus k.
E , is the complex voitage in bus k.
2, is the impedance for the branch k-m.
Y;h is the admittance of the shunt element connected to
bus k.
This method is specific for radid networks and it is
based
on back-forward sweep. In the back-forward algorithm
the bus and branches enumeration scheme is extremely
important, and it can affect the global method's
efficiency.
N.PROBABILISTIC EVALUATION
OF b L L 4 B I u T y
Basically there are two techniques to evaluate a
distribution system's reliability: the Analytical Methods
and the Stochastic Simulation Methods[5,6]. In this
paper, the State Enumeration AnalyticaI Method has
been used (SEAM) to estimate the reliability in
distribution networks while taking into account voltage
and loading constraints. The SEAM method was used

1601
due to its low computational cost, required to estimate
the reliabikty indices.
The SEAM method evaluates the impact of each
system's contingency (faults in the lines, transformers
or protection devices) and weight this impact based on
the duration and frequency of this contingency to
obtain reliability indices. Impact estimation of a
contingency on distribution networks is associated
with the fctllowing operational aspects [7]:

1) Switching of Protection Devices: Protection

devices (breakers, fuses) operate to eliminate the fault;
2) Restauration of load point upstream the fault:
sectioning devices upstream the fault, such as normally
closed switches(NC), isolators and fuses are opened to
clear a fault. This procedure allows the re-initialization
of the protection devices used to eliminate the fault
and also iillows the restoration of power supply to all
the consumers upstream the fault;
3) Restoration of load points downstream to the
fault: opening the sectioning devices downstream the
fault isolates other sections that remain de-energized,
This procedure allows that some consumers located
downstream the fault being restored through alternative
paths by closing the NO switches:
4) Repairing: the component that suffered the
fault is repaired and the system returns to its pre-fault
state.
The protection devices operated in a contingency
are illustrated in Fig.2.
The evaluation of predictive reliability of a
distribution network is usually associated with the
system's performance in the consumers load points.
The most used reliability indices to estimate the
reliability of system load points are: failure rate (Ai ),
annual unavailability (vi)and the average restoration
time (c). These indices are important from the
individual consumer point of view, but they do not
provide information that characterizes the total
distribution system performance. Hence, it is necessary
to use additional indices to evaluate the reliability of a
distribution networks. These indices must reflect the
severity and amplitude of the component's faults for
the whole distribution network.
Fig. 2- Sequencing of protection devices operation
during the event of a contingency (fault)
An additional set of indices can be evaluated using
the basic indices A i , CJi, and n' for each system load
point, including the aspects previously mentioned . The
indices used in this paper to evaluate the distribution
systems reliability indices are [7]:
1. ASIFI- Average System Interruption Frequency
Index.
2. ASIDI - Average System Interruption Duration
Index.
V. PARALLEL SIMULATED A " E A L I N G METHOD
In this work, the proposed algorithm for solving the
distribution network reconfiguration problem is the
Parallel Simulated Annealing (PSA) [SI method, which
is an extension of the Simulated Annealing (SA) [9]
method. Even though the SA method is an attractive
technique for this sort of optimization, it has some
disadvantages with respect to the PSA method. The SA
method frequently yields small transition states that stay
in a minimum local for multimodal non convex, non
linear problems, and other problems with a huge
solution space. To overcome these drawbacks, the SAI
method intensifies the routine of the transition states in
the original SA method to obtain better solutions, that
is, it increases the number of neighboring states to be
searched. Basically, the PSA method uses point
searching in a similar way to the SA method, but the
PSA method generates states of multiple neighboring
states instead of only one, as it is shown in Figure 3.
This procedure increases the possibilities in getting an
optimal solution close to the objective function optimal
global value.

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SA
r i
0 1
I 2I 3
I. l+ration
I m.
PSA
Figure 3-Difference between the searches of both,
the SA and PSA methods.
The PSA algorithm is presented in following:
Step 1 ) Initialization
Start an initial state (base-case). Define the
temperature ti and t h , the reduction factor r and
perform an evaluation of the base case.
Step 2) Generation of Neighbouring Stares
The generation of neighboring states is carried out
to obtain a better number of searching areas in the
solution space, so as to discover a solution close to a
global optimum.
Step 3 ) Neighbours Assessment
Each configuration (neighbour) will have its
objective function assessed (fitness).
Step 4 ) Generurion ofrhe Next State
In order to make it so that one of the neighbors is
accepted, this must attend the following conditions:
Step 5 ) Cooling Process
The temperature control parameter is decreased
using geometric progression ti = r * t d
Step 6 ) Stop Crirerium
When the temperature becomes higher than the
minimum temperature, the process returns to step 2.
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A. Neighbours Generation
The neighbour states generation is done by
producing new configurations of the electric network
through the opening and closing of switches normally
closed and normally opened, respectively. In this work,
a new topology is obtained by identifying, initiaIly all
NO switches of the distribution network. Next, the
normally closed (NC) switches belonging to the paths in
between the terminals of each NO switch and the
substation bus, are also identified. In this way, each
generated neighbor will correspond to the pair
composed by one NO switch and one NC switch
belonging to the paths in between the terminals of the
NO switch and the substation bus. For real electric
power distribuition systems, it will be computationally
unfeasible to estimate all neighbors associated to a
given configuration. For this reason, in this work, a
random selection of NC switches has been proposed, in
which only a NC switch associated with each terminal
(initial and final sides) of the NO switch is selected. In
other words, the number of closed switches (neighbors)
for the optimization process will double the number of
NO switches.
B. Objective Funcrion Estimation
To estimate the adequacy of each configuration, aspects
concerning electric losses in the feeders, voltage profile and
the impact of the reliability indices are considered. Next, the
analysis proceeds with a program to evaluate the reliability
indices and the load flow. By using the results, the adequacy
for a given configuration is obtained from equation (7).
(7)
Where:
N is the set of system nodes;
R is the set of reliability indices (R={ASIFI,ASIDI]);
Pflv(i), Pfiv(i), pfri(r) are the penalty factors for
violations in the: loading of the section i, voltage of the
node i and reliability index r,
 * Case 1: Estimation of losses and reliability indices
considering loading constraints in the lines and voltage
profile.
Vj2V&,0. * Case 2: Estimation of losses and reliability indices
considering constraints of case 2 and the system
reliability.

TABLEI

TEST SYSTEM CHARACERISTICS.

Zi and lim: are the evaluated and the maximum values

Load Peak I 3715 kW
for the current in the section i, respectively;
Voltage 1 12,66 kV
Vi is the magnitude of the nodal voltage in the node i; MVA Base 1 10MVA
Vmin minimum voltage limit; Number of Load Points I 32
?is the target value for a reliability index r; Number of Components I 69
W, Wv and Wr are the weights associated with Number of NO switches 1 5
violations of loading, voltage and reliability
Reliability data of the overhead transmission lines
used in the tests with the system shown in Figure 5 are
W. RESULTS
The proposed algorithm for reconfigurating the
presented in Table II, where: apem is the permanent
distribution networks with reliability constraints has failure rate; Trrprir
is the repair time, and TShis the
been applied to the te’st system proposed in reference switching time.
[lo]. This system has no protection devices along its
TABLE II
lines or switching along its lines. Thus, changes have
been made in that system to allow the modeling of
TEST SYSTEM R E L I A B W DATA.
reliability constraints in the reconfiguration of the
distribution network. The criteria used in the allocation
of the protection devices and in the system’s switching
are:
I) Reconnectors: a reconnector has been inserted just
at the begining of the feeder;
2) Fuses: fuses have been allocated at the beginning of
the section with greater load density and at the section
that would act as the branch start points.
3) Closed Switches: it has been added an NC switch at T ch [hours] I .oo
the beginning of each section. This criterium was used
to obtain a higher possible number of configurations
and, consequently, it increases the probability to get a
solution close to the global optimum. Figures 5 and 6 show the results of the analysis of
The test system is shown in Figure 4, and the main losses and reliability indices for the test system’s case-
characteristics of this system are presented in Table I. studies. Results presented in these figures have been
The analysis of the reliability constraints for the obtained considering the following values of S A I
minimizaiion of losses in distribution networks has method parameters:
been performed considering the following cases- Inicial Temperature 1,0
studies: Freedng Temperature: 0,Ol
Annealing Rate: 0.99
* Case D (Base Case): Estimation of losses and
reliability indices of the base-case (initial
configuration), without considering constraints.

1604
 Figure 4-On-line Diagram of the test system with their protection and switching devices.
Figure 5 - Total Loss of the Test System
Figure 6 -Test System Reliability Indices
The result presented in Figure 5 shows that for case
1 a 30.68% loss reduction ocurred with respect to the
base-case. Meanwhile, this reduction gives a meaningful
decay in the reliability indices. For example, in Figure 6,
for case 1, the A S D I index increase was 33.26% when
compared with the base case. This effect is due to the
fact that the losses minimization is done only based
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upon the loading constraints in the feeders and voltage
profile. These results point out that reliability constraints
must be modeled over the losses minimization through
the electric network reconfiguration.
The impact of reliability constraints on the loss
minimization can be estimared comparing the case
studies 1 and 2 with respect to the base-case. The result
presented in Figure 5 showed that losses reduction is
small when the reliability constraints are modeled on the
distribution network reconfiguration. For example, for
the test system, the reduction in the losses for study-case
1 and 2 compared with base-case are 30.68% and
22.63%, respectively. Besides that, it can be noted that
when a reliability constraint is activated, the reliability
indices for case 2 have been improved. Therefore, the
developed methodology tries to minimize losses as
much as possible and, at the same time, it lets the system
to operate under more reasonable reliability levels. For
example, in Figure 6, the ASIDI index for case 2
suffered a 24.08% reduction compared with case 1.
Finally, Table 111 illustrates the generated topologies,
represented by the initial and ending node of the open
switches for studies-cases 1 and 2, after the application
of' the losses reduction algorithm with reliability
constraints.
 For the optimal configuration of cases I and 2, in Figure
7 are presented the voltages in all the buses. It can be noted
that the voltages in all buses meet a minimum voltage limit
(Vmin = 0.92p.u.) allowed for the feeders.
I Case 2 120-7;8-14;10-43;24-28;32-171156,8 1 presented at UNICAMF’, Campinas. S%oPaulo, 1998 (in portugnese).
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 U 36 40 44 48 “52 56 60 W
Figure ‘7 - Bus Voltage for the cases under study
VU.CONCLUSION
In this paper an algorithm was presented for electric power
distribution network reconfiguration considering reliability
constraints. The proposed optimization method was Parallel
Simulated Anmaling. A method has been included for the
evaluation of the reliability indices (State Enumeration Analyhcal
Method) and another one for the load flow (Current Summation)
in order to estimate voltage drops and feeder overloading.
Results obtained with this technique in a distribution network test
system have showed that:
Reliability constraints can be taken into account in a
distribution network reconfiguration at low computational cost
and acceptable accuracy.
The inclusion of reliability constraints in the distribution
network reconfiguration have significant impacts in the
reliability indices associated with the duration and frequency of
electric interruptions (ASIDI and ASET).
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According to the results, the reconfiguration of electric
distribution networks provides the utilities to become more
competitive by reducing the electric losses and offering to their
users, at the same time, higher reliability levels.
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IX.BiOGwms
A. Coelho is a post-graduate student in Electrical
Engineering at Federal University of Maranhiio (UFMA)
- Brazil. He obtained his first degree in Electrical
Engineering from UFMA, in 2004.
M. G. Da Silva is professor of Electrical Energy
Systems in DEE at UFMA, SI0 Luis, Brazil. She has
MSc and PhD degrees in power engineering from
UFF’BBrazil and UMISTNK, respectively. Her
primary research interest is the modelling, evaluation
and application of probabilistic techniques to power
systems problems, particularly those concerned with
reliability. She is a member of the IEEE.
A. B. Rodrigues is assistent research in Electrical
Energy Systems in the Power System Team, UFMA. He
obtained his first degree in Electrical Engineering and
MSc in power engineering from UFMA in 1998 and
2003, respectively. His primary research interest is the
reliability assessment in composite and distribution
systems.