Coordinated Feeder Reconfiguration, Capacitor Placement and Allocation of Distributed Energy Resources for Loss Reduction Under Variable Loading Conditions

Reduction of active power losses in distribution networks is an important issue, which is usually addressed through a separate, sequential, or simultaneous feeder reconfiguration (FR), volt-var regulation (e.g., capacitor placement, CP), and control of distributed energy resources (DERs). However, finding optimal solution for a coordinated FR, CP, and DER control requires significant computational efforts, which are additionally increased when variations in loading conditions are considered. Therefore, load variations are usually neglected in related analysis, although changes in power flows influence changes in network losses and, consequently, optimal controls for FR, CP and DERs. This paper presents the analysis of both benefits and disadvantages of including not only the peak demands, but also different loading conditions for a coordinated implementation of FR, CP and DER controls for the reduction of losses. The analysis is illustrated on the several distribution test networks and using representative load patterns from the existing literature. The obtained results suggest that the inclusion of load variations requires significantly longer computational times, but in some cases affects optimal solutions for FR, CP and DER controls (their numbers, locations and settings).