Optimized distribution protection using binary programming

The fundamental goal of an electric utility is to serve its customers with a reliable and low cost power supply. This goal has led to a number of standard protection engineering practices that ensure adequate service; however, with deregulation of the utility industry and increased competitive pressures, there is a desire to further improve service reliability and reduce costs. In this vein, this work proposes a binary programming optimization to identify type and location of the protective devices on a distribution feeder. The proposed algorithm uses engineering heuristics to minimize computational time. Numerical examples highlight the proposed approach.