OPTIMAL NUMBER AND LOCATIONS OF SECTIONALIZING DEVICE IN MEDIUM TENSION RADIAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

This paper presents a developed formulation for selection of optimal number and locations of sectionalizing device in medium tension radial distribution system taking into consideration outage, maintenance and investment costs. The problem falls into the class of " discrete variable optimization problem with single minimum ". A solution is proposed to determine (i) the number of sectionalizing switches and (ii) the locations of these switches. The proposed solution methodology offers a general solution for optimal number and location of sectionalizing device problem including the reliability, investment, and maintenance costs. The research illustrates that feeder sectionalization automation plays a key role in the reliability of radial distribution systems.