Multi-objective optimal operation of smart reconfigurable distribution grids

Reconfiguration is a valuable technique that can support the distribution grid from different aspects such as operation cost and loss reduction, reliability improvement, and voltage stability enhancement. An intelligent and efficient optimization framework, however, is required to reach the desired efficiency through the reconfiguration strategy. This paper proposes a new multi-objective optimization model to make use of the reconfiguration strategy for minimizing the power losses, improving the voltage profile, and enhancing the load balance in distribution grids. The proposed model employs the min-max fuzzy approach to find the most satisfying solution from a set of nondominated solutions in the problem space. Due to the high complexity and the discrete nature of the proposed model, a new optimization method based on harmony search (HS) algorithm is further proposed. Moreover, a new modification method is suggested to increase the harmony memory diversity in the improvisation stage and increase the convergence ability of the algorithm. The feasibility and satisfying performance of the proposed model are examined on the IEEE 32-bus distribution system