Planning of distribution substations, feeders and sectionalizing switches using heuristic algorithms

The distribution system planning problem is divided into three subproblems: the substation planning problem, the feeder planning problem and the sectionalizing switch planning problem. Heuristic search algorithms are developed for each subproblem. In the substation planning problem, the locations of the substations are determined based on the specified number of substations. Then, the feeder network is determined based on the requirements of minimum investment cost and maximum available configurations in future system operation. Finally, the sectionalizing switches are placed at locations where feeder reconfiguration is most probable. Therefore, a major feature of the proposed planning algorithm is that the need of network reconfiguration in future system operation is taken into account. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by the planning of a distribution system in Taipei, Taiwan. It is concluded from the results in this work that proper distribution plans can be reached by the proposed method in a very efficient manner. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.