A Novel Algorithm for the Loss Estimation and
Minimization of Radial Distribution System with
Distributed Generation
T. Murali Krishna Dr. N. V. Ramana
Department of EEE Department of EEE
CVR College of Engineering JNTU College of Engineering
Hyderabad, India Jagityala, India
cvr.murali@gmail.com nvrjntu@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper presents a novel method for the estimation
and minimization of losses in a radial distribution system with
distributed generation. Due to the increasing power demand and
importance of renewable energy sources in recent times, the
studies on integration of distributed generation to the power grid
have been rapidly increased. The sources referred as distributed
generation (DG) are added to the network, mainly to have
reliable supply and to reduce the power losses by supplying a
fractional amount of total power. To minimize power losses, it is
essential to determine the optimal location and size of DG sources
to be placed in Electric distribution systems. This paper presents
an algorithm to obtain the optimum location of the DG’s in the
distribution network based on the available amount of DG using
Fuzzy Logic. Clustering technique converts a complex network
into simple clusters which makes the load flow solution faster. As
the number of Load Flow solution requirement is large in the
proposed algorithm and also increases with the number of nodes
the clustering technique is adopted.
Keywords—Distribution system Losses; Distributed Generation;
Load Flow; Clustering technique; Fuzzy Logic;
I. INTRODUCTION
Load flow or Power flow analysis is a key for power
system planning and operation. In the literature there are many
conventional load flow solution techniques such as Gauss-
Seidel, Newton Raphson and Fast Decoupled Load Flow [1]-[3].
These conventional load flow techniques are best suitable for
transmission systems but not for distribution systems due to
their ill-conditioned nature i.e., high R/X ratio. Therefore,
many methods were proposed for the solution of power flow
problem in radial distribution networks [4]-[9]. The methods
developed for the solution of ill-conditioned radial distribution
systems may be divided into two categories. The first type is by
necessary modifications of existing conventional methods. The
second group of methods is based on backward-forward sweep
processes using Kirchhoff's circuit laws.
Distributed generation (DG) [10], [11] is by definition that
which is of limited size (10-50 MW) and interconnected at the
substation, distribution feeder or customer load levels. One of
the most important motivations for the studies on the
integration of distributed resources to the grid is the
exploitation of the renewable resources such as: hydro, wind,
solar, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy, which are
naturally scattered around the country. DG technology
978-1-4673-6150-7/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
Dr. S. Kamakshaiah
Former Professor and Head
Department of EEE
JNT University, Hyderabad
s_kamakshaiah@yahoo.com
includes the generation by using photovoltaics, wind turbines,
fuel cells, micro sized turbine packages, stirling-engine based
generators, and internal combustion engine-generators. Studies
have indicated that inappropriate selection of the location and
size of DG may lead to greater system losses than losses
without DG [12], [13]. This paper also presents a methodology
to find the optimal DG locations and sizes. A Fuzzy approach
[14], [15] has been used in finding the optimal locations of
DG Units.
II. IMPACT OF DISTRIBUTED GENERATION ON
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
A. Losses
DG has a significant impact on electric losses in
distribution system due to its proximity to the load centers.
DG units should be allocated in places where they provide a
higher reduction of losses. This process of DG allocation is
similar to capacitor allocation to minimize losses. The basic
difference is that the DG units cause impact on both the active
and reactive power, while the capacitor banks only have
impact in the reactive power flow. In feeders with high losses,
a small amount of DG strategically allocated (10-20% of the
feeder load) could cause a significant reduction of losses [9].
For a particular DG capacity there is a location in the system
such that if we connect DG at that location power losses are
minimum in comparison when the same DG is connected at
any other point. That particular location where power losses
are minimum is known as Optimum location.
B. Voltage Profile
The distribution systems are usually regulated through tap
changing at substation transformers and by the use of voltage
regulators and capacitors on the feeders. This form of voltage
regulation assumes power flows circulating from the
substation to the loads. DG introduces meshed power flows
that may interfere with the traditionally used regulation
practices. Since the control of voltage regulation is usually
based on radial power flows, the inappropriate DG allocation
can cause low or over-voltages in the network. On the other
hand, the installation of DG can have positive impacts in the
distribution system by enabling reactive compensation for
voltage control, reducing the losses, contributing for frequency
regulation and acting as spinning reserve in main system fault
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cases. Under voltage and over voltage conditions can arise If the terminal node is not the end node then the current
given the incompatibility of DG with the voltage regulation in through that cluster terminal branch is given in (3)
radial power flows.
IB(i, k-1) = IN(i, k) + IB(i+1, x) + IB(i+2, y) (3)
C. Reliability Where x, y are the branches that connect the terminal node of
The objective of a power system is to supply electricity to the cluster. While calculating the branch currents, the
its customers in an economical and reliable manner. It is proposed software checks the node numbers with the nodes
important to plan and maintain reliable power systems because stored in the array. The voltages at the nodes are given by the
cost of interruptions and power outages can have severe expression (4) if the node is not the start node of the cluster.
economic impact on the utility and its customers.
VN(i, k) =VN(i, k-1) +IB(i, k-1)*Z(i, k-1) (4)
Traditionally, reliability analysis and evaluation techniques at
the distribution level have been far less developed than at the
generation level since distribution outages are more localized If the node is the end node then the voltage is given by (5)
and less costly than generation or transmission level outages. VN(i, k) = VN(i-1, k-1) + IB(i, k-1)*Z(i,k-1) (5)
However, analysis of customer outage data of utilities has
shown that the largest individual contribution for The power losses in the system is given by the expression
unavailability of supply comes from distribution system 2
failure. LP(i, k) = IB (i, k) *R(i, k) (6)
One of the important reasons for integrating DG to
TABLE. I REPRESENTATION OF CLUSTERS
distribution system is to increase the reliability of power
supply. DG can be used as a back-up system or as a main Cluster Parent Terminal Initial Start End
supply. DG can also be operated during peak load periods in Number node node branch node node
order to avoid additional charges. I 1 2 1 2 -
II 2 3 2 3 -
III 3 6 3 4 -
III. SOLUTION METHODOLOGY IV 6 18 6 7 18
V 2 22 18 19 22
A. Clustering Technique VI 3 25 22 23 25
VII 6 33 25 26 33
The solution procedure starts using a clustering technique
applied to a radial distribution system as described in [17].
The basic rules followed for cluster formation are:
• There should be no further bifurcation in the cluster.
• The cluster will start from a branch but not from the node.
(except first cluster).
• The cluster will have only one parent node and one
terminal node.
After the clusters are formed currents are determined in the
backward direction i.e., the evaluation starts from the last
cluster. Each cluster is passed to the backward sweep function
and then the current through each branch is determined. When
th
the last cluster i.e., here 7 cluster is passed through the
backward sweep it checks whether the terminal node of the
cluster is end node or not, if it is the end node then it is taken
as the current that flowing out of the node is zero and the
current at that nodes is calculated by using (1). The clusters
are solved by following different notations as shown in Table I
and the cluster formation of the test system is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 Cluster formation of the test system
*
IN (i, k) = (PL(i, k) + jQL(i, k)) (1)
VN(i, K) B. Distributed Generation Optimal placement.
Where i = cluster number , k = node number For a given configuration of a single source radial network
the loss PL associated with the active component of branch
The branch current is determined by using (2) currents cannot be minimized because all the active power
IB(i, k-1) = IN(i, k) +IB(i, k) (2) must be supplied by the source at the root bus. This is not true
if DG units are to be placed at different nodes for loss
reduction. That is real power can be supplied locally by using

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DG units of optimal size to minimize PL associated with the
active component of branch currents. The total power loss in a
distribution system having ‘b’ number of branches is given by:
PL=ΣIi2Ri (1)
For [i=1 to total branches]
Ii is the current flowing through the ith branch of the network
and Ri is the resistance of the ith branch.
The location of DG is chosen as the one that gives
minimum losses along with the best voltage profile. The best Figure 1. Loss Reduction Index (LRI) membership functions
voltage profile can be obtained by injecting the available DG
value in the given network at each node and placing the DG at
a node with minimum voltage index. The voltage index is
defined as follows

Vindex= Σ ((Vss/Vbase) –Vi) (2)

N .
Where, Vindex is voltage index
Vss is substation voltage
Figure 2. Voltage Index (VI) membership functions
Vbase is voltage base value
Vi is per unit voltage at ith bus
N is total buses
First, the proposed load flow program calculates the power
loss reduction and voltage deviations, placing DG sources at
every node of the distribution system. In the fuzzification
process, the Loss Reduction Index (LRI) and Voltage Index
(VI) are converted into fuzzy. LRI is described by the
linguistic terms very low, low, low-medium, medium, high-
medium, high, very high and VI is described by the linguistic
terms low, low-medium, medium, high-medium, high. These
are represented by membership functions. The membership Figure 3. DG Suitability Index (DGSI) membership functions
functions of trapezoidal type are used in our work and are
graphically shown in Figures 1 & 2. These power loss
reduction indices along with the voltage index are the inputs to
the Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) which determines the node
most suitable for DG installation by fuzzy inferencing. The
inference involves heuristic rules for determining the output
decisions. As there are 2 input variables (LRI, VI) and (7, 5)
fuzzified variables respectively, FIS has a set of 35 rules.
The available capacity of DG is to be placed into the
system in such a location so that the loss reduction index
should be maximum and the voltage index should be
minimum. These two objectives are considered while
designing heuristic rules for fuzzy inference system (FIS).The Figure 4. Fuzzy rules
developed fuzzy rules pattern is expressed in the following
form: TABLE II FUZZY DECISION MATRIX
IF premise (antecedent), THEN conclusion (consequent).
VOLTAGE INDEX (VI)
AND
IF Loss Reduction Index (LRI) is Very High (VH) and Voltage Index (VI) Low Medium Mediu Medium High
(L) Low m (M) High (H)
is Low (L) THEN DG Suitability Index (DGSI) is Very High (VH). (ML) (MH)
LOSS REDUCTION INDEX

Very Low VL VL VL VL VL
The rule base for optimal DG placement is summarized in (VL)
the fuzzy decision matrix shown in Table II and illustrated in Low (L) VL VL VL VL VL
Fig 4. The output of the fuzzy interface system (DGSI) will Medium M ML L VL VL
(LRI)

Low (ML)
also be in terms of membership function (Fig. 3). Further, it Medium MH M ML L L
has to be converted into numerical output to determine the (M)
Medium H MH MH ML L
optimal DG location. This process is what is called as High (MH)
defuzzification, which is the process of producing a High(H) H MH M M L
quantifiable result in fuzzy logic. Very High
(VH) VH H MH M L

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 IV. FLOW CHART V. TEST SYSTEM AND RESULTS
The described method is applied to a 11 kV, 33-bus radial
distribution system [10] with the total load 3.72 MW and 2.3
Start MVar. The single-line diagram is shown in Fig 1. After
calculation of the power loss reduction index and node
voltages index, FES determined that node 6 and node 7 has a
Read input data and DG capacity high power loss index and a low-normal voltage level. The
defuzzified DG suitability index indicated that node 6, 7 are
the most suitable locations for DG allocation. The results were
Initiate bus no. =1 tabulated in Table III.
TABLE III. OPTIMAL LOCATION AND LOSS REDUCTION FOR DIFFERENT DG
SIZES IN 33-BUS SYSTEM
Run clustering based load flow program
DG size
Suitable Losses without Loss with DG
(% of total
Node DG (KW) (KW)
load)
Bus no. = bus no. +1 0.1 16 174.74 124.24
0.2 14 174.74 89.94
0.3 12 174.74 70.635
0.4 11 174.74 61.543
P(bus no.)=P (bus no.)-DG capacity 0.5 8 174.74 56.427
0.6 7 174.74 54.561
0.7 6 174.74 50.148
0.8 6 174.74 53.785
Run clustering based load flow program 0.9 6 174.74 57.612
1.0 6 174.74 68.783

Calculate loss reduction and voltage index VI. CONCLUSION

Store the loss reduction and voltage index in an
array
Check
bus no. ≤ bus size
The voltage index array and the loss reduction
array are given to fuzzy as inputs
By designing suitable fuzzy membership
functions output is developed
This paper has presented a novel method to determine
suitable candidate nodes in distribution systems for DG
installation. The use of a FIS determines these nodes by
finding a compromise between the possible loss reduction
from DG installation and voltage levels. The FIS can easily be
adapted for DG allocation in distribution system planning,
expansion or operation. The procedure to calculate the optimal
DG size to install uses a single load factor to calculate the cost
of losses. In future work, a procedure involving Fuzzy can be
used to calculate DG sizes while considering varying loads.
This paper presents a methodology for solving the best
location for the available DG for the given radial distribution
system by using Voltage Index analysis and Power Loss
Reduction analysis. Fuzzy approach is proposed to find the
optimal DG locations. By installing DG units at all the
potential locations, the total power loss of the system has been
reduced significantly and bus voltages are improved
substantially. Clustering technique converts a complex
network into simple clusters which makes the load flow
solution faster. As the number of Load Flow solutions
requirement is large and increase with the number of nodes the
clustering technique is adopted.

The output is the de fuzzified and the optimal REFERENCES

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