Enhancement of the Electrical Distribution Systems Performance from a Holistic Perspective

Abstract

In this thesis, enhancement of the electrical distribution systems performance is achieved by applying different methods which include installing shunt capacitors, distributed generation (DG) units and distributed static synchronous compensator (DSTATCOM) in the radial distribution system at specified locations with proper sizes within predefined constraints. The importance of installing these devices and units on radial distribution systems is essential for improving the system overall voltage profile , power flow control, enhancing voltage stability, power factor correction, enhancing power quality, reducing electrical power loss in distribution level, and strengthening system reliability accompanied by economic benefits and cost reduction . It is necessary to determine the optimal size and location of installed units in the electrical network to gain the most benefits of these devices. The solution techniques are categorized into four categories; analytical, numerical programming, heuristic, and artificial intelligence-based (AI-Based).

Two nature inspired AI-Based methods are introduced and used for the first time to solve that kind of optimization problems. Results of the proposed techniques are compared with previous methods used to solve the same problem in order to show the superiority of the proposed technique using many actual distribution feeders (e.g. 15 bus, 33 bus, and 69 bus feeders). These new simple techniques have the capability to find the best results for maximum minimization in