Abstract

Abstract
Planning a radial distribution network requires, among several options, decisions concerning whether or not to include switching devices in the network branches. The general problem can be stated as follows: given a radial network, define the optimal system configuration (location and type of switching devices) by minimising an objective function which includes the cost associated with the switching devices and the economic consequences of the power disconnected and energy not supplied due to failures in the distribution system. In this paper a new algorithm and an efficient computer program are presented. Reliability concepts are used along with dynamic programming techniques in order to establish an objective function and obtain a desired optimised network configuration.