Simulation of automatic network reconfiguration technology in distribution system by OpenDss

The rapid development of renewable energy and smart grid technologies provides new opportunities for improvement of distribution network management. The specific characteristics of some distributed generation sources such as poor predictability and variability of output affect the stability and efficiency of the distribution system. It is important to explore new methodologies to achieve an optimal balance between network management's multiple objectives and constraints (including load balance, voltage performance, system losses) and the penetration of the distributed generation. This paper proposes a genetic algorithm which is applied in MATLAB and Open DSS for implementing automatic reconfiguration technology in distribution networks. The objective of the approach is to explore the optimum topology in advance at each hour by analyzing the predicted data of load demand and distributed generation. The algorithm is tested in IEEE 37-bus feeder network with distributed generation.