An Approach to Optimal Distribution System Planning Through Conductor Gradation

An optimal conductor gradation procedure for radial distribution feeders is proposed in this paper. Models to represent feeder cost, energy loss cost and voltage regulation as a function of conductor cross-section and an objective function for optimizing the conductor cross-section have been formulated. The problem has been posed as a multistage decision dynamic programming problem, and the optimal conductor cross- sections for the fender segments are obtained by solving the same. The proposed method takes into account the non-uniform distribution of loads along the length of the feeders and also the maximum permissible voltage drop along a feeder. Further, the method takes into account the load growth in future years of the plan period. The results of the design of a typical radial feeder using thp proposed method are presented and discussed.