Evaluation of Annual Energy Loss Reduction Based on Reconfiguration Scheduling

In distribution network management, switch reconfiguration is an important tool for reducing energy loss. Recently, a variety of annual reconfiguration planning methods considering energy loss have been studied. However, no conventional methods address the reconfiguration periods in fine granularity. Practically, switch durability does not support high-frequency switching. Therefore, this paper proposes a new optimization method for annual reconfiguration scheduling. This method determines switch configurations and their reconfiguration periods with a constraint on the permissible reconfiguration times. In addition, this paper reveals the annual energy loss reduction effect of this optimization. Our method is based on partial network optimization with exhaustive enumeration of all feasible configurations. Experiments were conducted using a standard Japanese distribution network model with 468 switches. The results show that optimizing the reconfiguration periods reduces energy loss by up to 2.1 times, relative to that in a simulated conventional operation, which considers reconfiguration at equal intervals. We believe that this is the first quantitative report to address the difference between optimal reconfiguration scheduling and conventional reconfiguration.