Coordinated Planning of Multiple DERs, Voltage Control Devices and Network Reconfiguration in a Real Multi-Feeder Distribution System

The joint planning of several device types and network reconfiguration is seldom validated on real feeders. This paper proposes a four-objective framework (investment cost, losses, voltage deviation, inter-substation load balance) for allocating photovoltaic generation, capacitors, batteries and series voltage regulators with tie-switch reconfiguration treated through scenarios. Validation uses a real 273-bus system of three Brazilian feeders with the power-flow solver matching OpenDSS in all 64 switching configurations (error below 1.5×10−5 p.u.). Over 20 runs, NSGA-III outperforms a hybrid whale algorithm (WOA-SRD) in hypervolume and spacing with no significant IGD difference. In radial operation, three reference solutions (BRL 3.2 M, BRL 6.1 M, BRL 9.7 M) reduce daily losses by 44.5%, 52.5% and 56.1%; only the last two meet the 0.93 p.u. limit, the Knee by 0.0002 p.u. The search explores switching weakly; a post-processing sweep of the 64 configurations shows that closing ties would cut losses a further 33.6–37.3%. A no-DER baseline that only closes ties meets the voltage limit and cuts losses by 37.3%, at nine times the load-balance index, so DER benefits must be judged against reconfiguration. Regulators and tie states, not DER siting, cut the scenario-averaged load-balance index by 68% relative to the Knee solution at 31% higher investment and 10% higher losses.