Application of tabu search to optimal placement of distributed generators

Distributed generators (DGs) such as fuel cells, solar cells, wind mills and micro gas turbines, etc. are going to be installed on the demand side of power systems. Such distributed generators can reduce distribution loss if they are placed appropriately in the distribution system. In this paper, a tabu search application for finding the optimal allocation of DGs from a viewpoint of loss minimization is illustrated. In other words, the authors discuss about an implementation method of tabu search to find how much distribution loss can be reduced if DGs are optimally allocated at the demand side of a power system. Namely, locations and discrete capacities of DGs to minimize the distribution loss are determined by nested use of the tabu search algorithm. Numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the method.