Heuristic Algorithm for Electrical Distribution Systems Reconfiguration Based on Firefly Movement Equation

A heuristic computational method based on the firefly movement equation is presented aiming at optimizing the electrical power distribution to the customers and minimizing the waste of ohmic losses due to Joule effect. The proposed algorithm simulates the fireflies movement towards preys or partners to match and, through a discretization, the insects positions in the space correspond to the positions of the switches in the electrical system. Using the suggested heuristic we can reduce the problem of exponential increase of the possible switches combinations to reconfigurate the electrical system. Four systems were used in the tests: sixteen bus and sixteen switches, sixteen bus and twenty-one switches, thirty-three bus and thirty-seven switches and seventy bus and seventy-four switches. The algorithm is able to detect and exclude net typologies that transgress operational restrictions such as the system radiality and the voltage profile maintenance.