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Abstract :
The size of conductor in a distibution system is an important parameter as it determines the current density and
the resistance of the line. A lower conductor size can cause high I2R losses and high voltage drop which causes a
loss of revenue as consumer’s consumption lower and hence revenue is reduced. In this paper a new approach is
proposed to optimally select the conductors for minimum loss in the distribution system. Differential evolution
algorithm is used to select optimal conductor type for each feeder. The objective function modeled in this paper
consists of sum of capital investment and capitalized energy loss cost. Voltage constraints and maximum current
carrying capacity of the conductors are also incorporated in the objective function. To demonstrate the effectiveness
of the proposed method, simulations are carried out on 32 bus system and results obtained are encouraging.
Keywords: Optimal Conductor Selection, Loss Reduction, Radial Distribution Systems, And Differential
Evolution
1. Introduction
The demand for electrical energy is ever increasing. Today over 21% (apart from theft) of the total electrical
energy generated in India is lost in transmission (4-6%) and distribution (15-18%). The electrical power deficit
in the country is currently about 18%. Clearly, reduction in distribution losses can reduce this deficit
significantly. The main reason for having high losses in developing contries like India is stretching of
distribution lines beyond the limits of load centers, increase of load abnormally without considering the current
carrying capacity of the conductors and imbalance of generation and load causing reactive power generation,
etc.
Hence proper selection of conductors in the distribution system is important as it determines the current
density and the resistance of the line. A lower conductor size can cause high I2R losses and high voltage drop
which causes a loss of revenue as consumer’s consumption lowered and hence revenue is reduced. Increasing
the size of conductors will require additional investment, which may not pay back for the reduction in losses.
The recommended practice is to find out whether the conductor is able to deliver the peak demand of the
consumers at the correct voltages, that is, the voltage drop must remain within the allowable limits as specified
in the Indian Electricity Act, 2003. The preferred solution for problems like high losses and voltage drops is
network reconductoring. This scheme arises where the existing conductor is no more optimal due to rapid load
growth. This is particularly relevant for the developing countries, where the annual growth rates are high and the
conductor sizes are chosen to minimize the initial capital investment. Studies of several distribution feeders
indicate that the losses in the first few main sections (say, 4 to 5) from the source constitute a major part of the
losses in the feeder. Reinforcing these sections with conductors of optimal size can prevent these losses. Thus,
we can minimize the total cost, that is, the cost of investment and the cost of energy losses over a period of 5 to
10 years. The sizing of conductor must depend upon the load it is expected to serve and other factors, such as
capacity required in future.
In most of the distribution systems planning methods the distribution feeders have been assumed to be of
uniform cross section. But in practical systems current carrying capacity of the feeders are varied in different
sections of the system and thus cross section of sections of the feeders also will vary. Depending the current
carrying capacity of the feeders the size of the conductors will select optimally. Funkhouser and Huber[1]
worked on a method for determining economical aluminum conductor steel reinforced (ACSR) conductor sizes
for distribution systems. They showed that three conductors could be standardized and used in combination for
the most economical circuit design for the loads to be carried by a 13 kV distribution system. They also studied
the effect of voltage regulation on the conductor selection process. This method however cannot be used in
general as it is based on uniform load distribution for the feeders. The study done by Ponnavaikko and Rao[4]
suggested a model to represent feeder cost, energy loss cost and voltage regulation as a function of conductor
cross-section. The researchers proposed an objective function for optimizing the conductor cross section ans
used the dynamic programming to obtain the solution to the optimization problem. However major drawbacks
of this method is that it cannot handle the lateral branches. Tram and Wall [3] have developed a practical
computer algorithm for optimal selection of conductors of radial distribution feeders. They have also explored
the possibilities of using regulator instead of reconductoring of the feeder segment to resolve the voltage
problem. Wall et al. [4] have considered a few small systems to determine the best conductors for different
feeder segments of these systems. Anders et al [5] analyzed the parameters that affect the economic selection of
cable sizes. The authors also did a sensitivity analysis of the different parameters as to how they affect the
overall economics of the system. Leppert and Allen [6] suggested that conductor selection is not only based on
simple engineering considerations such as current capacity and voltage drop but also on various other
considerations such as load growth and wholesale power cost increase. In this paper, the authors have proposed
Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm for optimal selection of conductors in each branch of the distribution
system. The algorithm is tested on 28 bus system and results are compared with other methods available in the
literature.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 gives the problem formulation; Section 3 provides an
overview of Differential Evolution; Section 4 describes Solution Technique; Section 5 presents computational
test results and section 6 outlines conclusions.
2. Problem Formulation
1
F (4)
1 f(i, c)
Pk 1 Pk PLoss ,k PLk 1 Pk
rk
Vk
2
Pk
2
(Q k Y k V k
2 2
) P
Lk 1 (5)
rk + jxk Pk 1 jQk 1
Pk + jQk Pn jQn
Yk1 Yk2
PLk 1 jQLk 1
Qk 1 Qk QLoss , k QLk 1 Qk
xk
Vk
2
P
k
2 2
2
(Qk Yk 1 Vk ) 2 Yk 1 Vk Yk 2 Vk 1 QLk 1
2
(6)
2 2
Vk 1 Vk
rk2 xk2
Vk
2
P
k
2
Qk'2 2 rk Pk xk Qk' Vk
2 rk2 xk2
Vk
2
P
k
2 2
(Qk Yk Vk )2 2 rk Pk xk (Qk Yk Vk )
2
(7)
where Pk and Qk are the real and reactive powers flowing out of bus k, and PLk+1 and QLk+1 are the real and
reactive load powers at bus k+1. The shunt admittance is denoted by Ykl at any bus k to ground. The resistance
and reactance of the line section between buses k and k+1 are denoted by rk and xk, respectively.
The peak power loss of the line section connecting buses k and k+1 may be computed as
( Pk2 Q k'2 )
PPeak Loss (k , k 1) rk . 2
(8)
Vk
The total power loss of the feeder, PT,Peak Loss, may then be determined by summing up the losses of all line
sections of the feeder, which is given as
b
PT , Peak Loss P
k 1
Peak Loss ( k , k 1) (9)
3.1. DE Algorithm
Initialize population
While stopping criteria are not satisfied,
o Create mutant vector with the difference vector and scaling constant
o Generate trial vectors applying the selected crossover scheme
o Select next generation members according to competition performance.
value of j. X (j0,i) is the jth parameter of the ith individual of the initial population.
3.2.2. Mutation
After the population is initialized, this evolves through the operators of mutation, cross over and selection.
For crossover and mutation different types of strategies are in use. Basic scheme is explained here elaborately.
The mutation operator is incharge of introducing new parameters into the population. To achieve this, the
mutation operator creates mutant vectors by perturbing a randomly selected vector (Xa) with the difference of
two other randomly selected vectors (Xb and Xc). All of these vectors must be different from each other,
requiring the population to be of at least four individuals to satisfy this condition. To control the perturbation
and improve convergence, the difference vector is scaled by a user defined constant in the range [0, 1.2]. This
constant is commonly known as the scaling constant (S).
3.2.3. Crossover
The crossover operator creates the trial vectors, which are used in the selection process. A trail vector is a
combination of a mutant vector and a parent (target) vector based on different distributions like uniform
distribution, binomial distribution, exponential distribution is generated in the range [0, 1] and compared against
a user defined constant referred to as the crossover constant. If the value of the random number is less or equal
than the value of the crossover constant, the parameter will come from the mutant vector, otherwise the
parameter comes from the parent vector.
The crossover operation maintains diversity in the population, preventing local minima convergence. The
crossover constant (CR) must be in the range of [0, 1]. A crossover constant of one means the trial vector will be
composed entirely of mutant vector parameters. A crossover constant near zero results in more probability of
having parameters from the target vector in the trial vector. A randomly chosen parameter from the mutant
vector is always selected to ensure that the trail vector gets at least one parameter from the mutant vector even if
the crossover constant is set to zero.
X i',Gj if 'j CR or j q
X i'',Gj (14)
G
X i , j otherwise
where i = 1, 2, … , Np; j = 1, 2, …, D; q is a randomly chosen index {1,2, ..... , Np} that guarantees that
the trial vector gets at least one parameter from the mutant vector; 'j is a uniformly distributed random number
within [0, 1) generated anew for each value of j. X i ,Gj , X i',Gj and X i'', Gj are the jth parameter of the ith target vector,
mutant vector and trial vector at generation G, respectively.
3.2.4. Selection
The selection operator chooses the vectors that are going to compose the population in the next generation.
This operator compares the fitness of the trial vector and fitness of the corresponding target vector, and selects
the one that performs better.
X i''G for f(X i''G ) f ( X iG )
X iG 1 i 1,2,..., Np (15)
X iG otherwise
This optimization process is repeated for several generations allowing individuals to improve their fitness as
they explore the solution space in the search for optimal values. DE has three essential control parameters:
Scaling factor (S), Cross over constant (CR) and population size Np. The scaling factor is a value in the range
(0,2] that controls the perturbation in the mutation process. Cross over constant is a value in the range of [0,1]
that controls the diversity of the population. Population size determines the number of individuals in the
population and provides tha algorithm enough diversity to search the solution space.
Start
Constraint No
voilation ?
No Fitness value
Take next improved?
Chromosome Yes
Yes
Generate new population and apply DE operators
Reproduction, Cross Over and Mutation
i=i+1
Yes
i ≤ Imax
No
Stop
Encoding and Decoding: Implementation of a problem in a DE starts from the parameter encoding (i.e., the
representation of the problem). The encoding must be carefully designed to utilize the DE's ability to efficiently
transfer information between chromosome strings and objective function of problem. The proposed approach
uses the string length that represents the conductor size in each branch of the system. Two bits are reserved for
each branch. The encoding scheme of the string size is as shown.
D0 D1 D2 D3 .......... D(i-1) Di
X0 X1 X0 X1 X0 X1
5. Test Results
The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been tested on a 32-bus radial distribution systems. The
single line diagram [9] for practical 32-node radial distribution systems is shown in Fig.3. The rated voltage of
the network is 11 kV. The substation voltage (bus 0) is taken as 1 p.u. The line and load data are given in
Appendix A. The properties of the conductors used in the analysis of this system is given in Table 1. The
parameters used in this algorithm are: Number of iterations is 50; Population size is 20; Cross over probability is
0.8; and Mutation probability is 0.03. The other parameters used in compuation process are: KP= Rs. 2500/kW;
KE= Rs. 0.5/kWh; LSF=0.2; and IDFC=0.1. The proposed algorithm is applied to this system and the results of
conductor type selection are presented in Table 2 From Table 2. From the results, it is observed that
reconductoring is necessary for all the branches except for 22 and 23.
Total peak power loss before reconductoring is 117.49 kW and after reconductoring is 96.64 kW. The real
power loss reduction is 20.85 kW which is approximately 17.75% of the total. The peak power loss before and
after conductor grading in each brach is given in the Table 2. The minimum voltage is improved from 0.9078
p.u to 0.9205 p.u. The improvement in voltage regulation is 2%. The voltages before and after conductor
grading in each brach is also presented in the Table 2. Annual cost of power loss in all branches before
conductor grading is Rs. 392334.92 and after conductor grading is Rs. 326269.76. Total reduction in annual
cost of power loss is Rs. 6665.2 which is approximately 16.84% of total cost of power loss. Depreciation on
capital investment cost before conductor grading is Rs. 66891.69 and after grading is Rs. 52401.10.
Total reduction in Depreciation on capital investment cost is Rs. 144905.59 which is approximately 21.66% of
Depreciation on capital investment cost. Total cost (sum of annual cost of power loss and Depreciation on
capital investment cost) before conductor grading is Rs. 459226.5 and after grading is Rs. 378670.9. The
reduction in the cost is Rs. 80555.6, which is 17.54 % of total cost. The voltage profile in the system before and
after conductor grading is depicted in fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Voltage profile of 32-bus system Fig. 5. Peak power loss in each brach
From Fig. 4, it is observed that voltage at each bus improved. The peak power loss in each branch of the system
before and after conductor grading is depicted in fig. 5. The power loss in the branches are reduced and thus
reducing the thermal loading on the conductors. Further the system is available to carry more power. The current
in each branch and change in the current in each branch before and after conductor grading is shown in fig.6.
From the figure, it is observed that the current through each branch is reduced after conductor grading. The
results of the proposed method is compared with the results of the method proposed in [8] and presented in
Table II. As per the method in [8], all conductors in the branches of the system is replaced with ‘Mink’ type
conductors after grading. With the proposed method, reconductoring is done for all branches except 22 and 23.
The peak power loss and total cost reduction by the proposed method is less than that of the method proposed in
[8].
Fig. 6. Current profile in the system before and after conductor gading
6. Conclusions
In this paper, differential evolution algorithm has been applied to solve the optimal conductor grading
problem in distribution system. The proposed algorithm is tested on 32-bus system and results obtained are
encouraging. Grading of conductors are done for all branches of the system except to 22 and 23 branches. Total
peak power loss before conductor grading is 117.49 kW and after conductor grading is 96.64 kW. The reduction
in peak real power loss is 20.85 kW which is approximately 17.75% of the total. The voltage regulation in the
system is improved by 2%. Annual cost of power loss in all branches before conductor grading is Rs.
392334.92 and after conductor grading is Rs. 326269.76. Total reduction in annual cost of power loss is Rs.
6665.2 which is approximately 16.84% of total cost of power loss. Depreciation on capital investment cost
before conductor grading is Rs. 66891.69 and after grading is Rs. 52401.10. Total reduction in Depreciation on
capital investment cost is Rs. 144905.59 which is approximately 21.66% of Depreciation on capital investment
cost. Total cost (sum of annual cost of power loss and Depreciation on capital investment cost) before
conductor grading is Rs. 459226.5 and after grading is Rs. 378670.9. The reduction in the cost is Rs. 80555.6,
which is 17.54 % of total cost. Results of the proposed method is compared with the results of the other method
and presented in Table 2. The results show that the performance of the proposed method is better than the other
method.
Appendix A
Line And Load Data Of 32-Bus System
Branch Number Sending End Receiving End Type of Conductor Length (kM) kVA (pf=0.8)
1 1 2 Rabbit 0.20 100.00
2 2 3 Rabbit 0.20 100.00
3 3 4 Rabbit 0.43 100.00
4 4 5 Rabbit 0.60 300.00
5 5 6 Rabbit 0.22 0.00
6 6 7 Rabbit 0.16 63.00
7 7 8 Rabbit 0.30 100.00
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