Optimal Feeder Routing Based on the Bacterial Foraging Technique

A new method for optimal feeder routing in radial distribution system planning has been reported in this paper. This method harnesses the efficacy of the bacterial foraging technique for solving combinatorial optimization problems with faster convergence and enhanced probability to achieve a global optimum solution of the distribution planning problem. In this new planning method, bacterial foraging technique is used in a different way so that it does not require tuning of all parameters. The planning algorithm provides optimal feeder routes to connect the load nodes. The result of test cases reflects the potential of this new planning technique in optimizing the network structure.