Reliability and Protection Improvement of Electric Distribution Systems by Optimal Placement of Reclosers and Sectionalizers Using Slime Mould Algorithm

Reclosers and sectionalizers (RSEC) are automatic switches that can significantly improve the reliability of radial distribution systems (RDS). However, the optimal siting of these switches has a rejuvenating effect on minimizing the costs of electric distribution companies. This paper proposes a three-stage optimal RSEC placement for reliability improvement and readjustment of the affected protection settings in an RDS. The first stage presents a graph-theory-based network reduction scheme to confine the candidate locations for RSEC placement. An objective function is defined in the second stage based on reliability indicators, including ENS, SAIFI, and SAIDI, to evaluate the eligibility of each response. Additionally, the investment costs and maximum acceptable budget from the company's point of view are considered in the function. The slime mould algorithm (SMA) solves the fitness function. In the last stage, the alterations required to modify the protection settings are applied to ensure the restoration of coordination of all protective devices. The proposed method is implemented on IEEE ۸۵-Node as a standard RDS and F۵-BostanAbad East Azerbaijan as an actual RDS, and the results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Keywords:

Recloser , Sectionalizer , Optimal Placement , Slime Mould Algorithm (SMA).