New genetic algorithm for link distribution system design

The ability to supply consumers of an urban area without any longer interruption during a feeder segment or substation transformer outage is assured by a link network configuration. The goal of method proposed in this paper is to design such link distribution network that satisfies the growing and changing load demand during the long term planning period with minimal service costs subject to voltage drop, cable and transformer capacity limits, limited number of feeders outgoing at HV/MV substations and limited number of load points per link. The method is based on biologically inspired genetic algorithm (GA). Basic GA procedures adapted to the given problem that enable simultaneous routing of all links between HV/MV substations are presented. Six versions of crossover operators are compared. The results reveal that that the method is able to produce results of a kind not easily obtained before namely in terms of an amount of information about the solutions and the solution space.