Optimal Selection and Location of Fixed-Step Capacitor Banks in Distribution Networks Using a Discrete Version of the Vortex Search Algorithm

Walter Gil-González, Oscar Danilo Montoya, Arul Rajagopalan, Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña and Jesus C. Hernández
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Walter Gil-González: Grupo GIIEN, Facultad de Ingeniería, Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo, Campus Robledo, Medellín 050036, Colombia
Oscar Danilo Montoya: Laboratorio Inteligente de Energía, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Cartagena 131001, Colombia
Arul Rajagopalan: School of Electrical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai 632014, India
Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña: Grupo GIIEN, Facultad de Ingeniería, Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo, Campus Robledo, Medellín 050036, Colombia
Jesus C. Hernández: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Jaén, Campus Lagunillas s/n, Edificio A3, 23071 Jaén, Spain

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: This paper deals with the problem of the optimal selection of capacitor banks in electrical AC distribution systems for minimizing the costs of energy losses during a year of operation through a discrete version of the vortex search algorithm (DVSA). This algorithm works with a hypersphere with a variable radius defined by an exponential function where a Gaussian distribution is used to generate a set of candidate solutions uniformly distributed around the center of this hypersphere. This center corresponds to the best solution obtained at the iteration t, which is initialized at the center of the solution space at the iterative search beginning. The main advantage of combining the exponential function with the Gaussian distribution is the correct balance between the exploration and exploitation of the solution space, which allows reaching the global optimal solution of the optimization problem with a low standard deviation, i.e., guaranteeing repeatability at each simulation. Two classical distribution networks composed of 33 and 69 nodes were used to validate the proposed DVSA algorithm. They demonstrated that the DVSA improves numerical reports found in specialized literature regarding the optimal selection and location of fixed-step capacitor banks with a low computational burden. All the simulations were carried out in MATLAB software.

Keywords: optimal location of capacitor banks; discrete vortex search algorithm; metaheuristic optimization; energy losses minimization; radial distribution networks; medium-voltage distribution levels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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