A multiobjective service restoration method for power distribution systems

Service restoration problem in distribution systems is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem which is demanded not only for minimizing the amount of not restored total loads but also for minimizing the number of the switching operations. The solution of the multiobjective optimization problem is usually obtained with a set of Pareto optimal solutions. The Pareto optimal solutions for the service restoration problem are useful for users to obtain their desired restoration by comparing a Pareto optimal solution with the others. However, the conventional methods cannot obtain several Pareto optimal solutions in one trial. Therefore, this paper proposes a method for obtaining the Pareto optimal set for the service restoration problem with a genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm produces many possible solutions in its search process. By utilizing this feature, the proposed method can obtain the Pareto optimal set.