Multistage Distribution System Expansion Planning with many Alternatives of Conductors

摘要

Distribution system expansion planning models generally do not limit the number of conductors’ alternatives that can be used in planning, and Distribution Companies may be faced with a scenario of many alternatives as they expand their systems. However, Distribution Companies are interested in few stocking alternatives for the conductors that will be installed during the expansion. In this context, this paper proposed an algorithm based on Chu-Beasley’s genetic operators for selecting a reduced number of conductors’ alternatives and Branch & Cut to solve the distribution expansion planning problem. The algorithm uses genetic operators to create a set of conductors’ alternatives that are used in the distribution system expansion planning model. The mixed-integer planning model addresses the inclusion or replacement of substation, conductors, and transformers, and the inclusion or increase of substation capacity. Conductor alternatives are generated from the alternatives found in the literature. The results show that the proposed method is promising in the search for valid conductors’ alternatives to reduce the investment costs in the distribution expansion.