Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97 – 102

www.elsevier.com/locate/epsr

Feeder reconfiguration and capacitor setting for loss reduction of

distribution systems
Ching-Tzong Su *, Chu-Sheng Lee
Institute of Electrical Engineering, National Chung Cheng Uni6ersity, Chiayi 621, Taiwan

Received 7 August 2000; received in revised form 11 December 2000; accepted 18 December 2000

Abstract

The stress to elevate overall efficiency has forced utilities to look for greater efficiency in electric power distribution. This study
presents an effective approach to feeder reconfiguration and capacitor settings for power-loss reduction and voltage profile
enhancement in distribution systems. The optimization technique of simulated annealing (SA) can be relied on to solve the
problem efficiently. The merit of the method is that it can provide a global or near-global optimum for feeder reconfiguration and
capacitor settings. The objective of this study is to recognize beneficial load transfer, to take the objective function composed of
power losses be minimized and voltage limits be satisfied. The proposed approach is demonstrated by employing an IEEE
illustrative example. Computational results show that by taking into account feeder reconfiguration and capacitor settings
simultaneously, one can minimize losses more efficiently than by considering them separately. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: Capacitor setting; Distribution system; Feeder reconfiguration; Power loss reduction; Simulated annealing; Switching operation

1. Introduction distribution system. That is, finding the optimal setting

Feeder reconfiguration is the process of changing the
topology of distribution network by altering the open/
closed status of switches. During normal operating
conditions, a distribution system is connected with the
others through tie lines, reducing the power interrup-
tion and increasing the system reliability. The configu-
ration may be varied with manual or automatic
switching operations to transfer loads among the
feeders.
Through the application of reactive power compensa-
tion, one can reduce power loss and improve the
voltage profile. Capacitors have been very commonly
employed to provide reactive power compensation in
distribution systems. The benefits of compensation de-
pend greatly on the size of the capacitors added. The
size of the capacitors installed on feeders can be varied
by using switched capacitors. The idea is to optimize
the discrete setting of those capacitors in a radial
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 886-5-2428162; fax: +886-5-
2720862.
E-mail address: ieects@ccunix.ccu.edu.tw (C.-T. Su).
of switched capacitors to minimize losses.
The early work on feeder reconfiguration for loss
reduction is presented by Civanlar et al. [1]. In Ref. [2],
Baran et al. defined the problem for loss reduction and
load balancing as an integer programming problem.
Nara et al. [3] present an implementation using a
genetic algorithm (GA) to look for the minimum loss
configuration. Chiang et al. propose a solution proce-
dure employed simulated annealing [4,5] to search for
an acceptable non-inferior solution. The other ap-
proach to feeder reconfiguration considering the ability
of system transformers and feeders, power loss, and
voltage profiles had been respectively presented [6–10].
Optimal capacitor placement is a combinatorial opti-
mization problem that is commonly solved by employ-
ing mathematical programming techniques. Grainger
and Lee [11 –13] formulated the problem as a non-lin-
ear programming model that can be solved by simple
iterative procedures based on gradient search. Bala et
al. used the sensitivity factor [14] and distribution-ana-
lyzer-recorder (DAR) [15] to solve optimal capacitor
placement problems. In Refs. [16,17], the authors used
the genetic algorithm (GA) to select capacitors for

0378-7796/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 7 7 9 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 2 4 - 9
98 C.-T. Su, C.-S. Lee / Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97–102
radial distribution systems. Su et al. [18] applied fuzzy-
reasoning approach to optimum capacitor allocation. In
Refs. [19,20], the authors used evolutionary program-
ming to solve optimal reactive power planning problems.
Most previous studies handled reconfiguration prob-
lems without considering the capacitor addition [1–10],
or handled capacitor compensation problems without
considering feeder reconfiguration [11– 20]. They dealt
with the feeder reconfiguration and capacitor addition in
a separate manner [1– 20], which may result in unneces-
sary losses and cannot yield the minimum loss configura-
tion. However, only a few papers on loss minimization
applying heuristic techniques for feeder reconfiguration
and capacitor placement had been presented [21– 23]. In
view of this, we try the simulated annealing method to
determine the feeder reconfiguration and capacitor set-
tings for optimal loss minimization of distribution sys-
tems. The proposed method can attain a global or
near-global optimal feeder reconfiguration and capacitor
setting.
2. Problem description
In this study, we propose an approach for feeder
reconfiguration and capacitor setting for distribution
systems. We aim to minimize the power loss of the
system, subject to load and operating constraints. For
simplicity, the implementation issues of operation and
maintenance cost and various timing loads are not taken
j100A, j200A, or j300A, while capacitor C2 is a capacitor
with an ‘on’ or ‘off’ setting. In Table 1, case C has the
same feeder configuration as case B, but a different
capacitor setting, and the losses are 4 kW. Similarly, case
D, case E, and case F all have the same feeder configura-
tions as case A, but each has different capacitor place-
ment, and the losses are 6, 3, and 6 kW, respectively.
In this example, the losses simultaneously taking into
account system reconfiguration and capacitor placement
(case E, with 3 kW losses) are lower than that considering
a system feeder reconfiguration alone (case B, with 10 kW
losses). Furthermore, by first performing feeder re-
configuration only, and then optimizing capacitor place-
ment, it would still yield a sub-optimal solution (case C,
with 4 kW losses). Considering feeder reconfiguration
simultaneously with capacitor placement would yield the
optimal solution (case E, with 3 kW losses) for this
network. Adding capacitors blindly would yield too
much of compensation to be an optimal solution (case F,
with 6 kW losses).
Mathematically, the objective function of the problem
can be described as
min f= min (PT,Loss) (1)
where PT,Loss is the total real power loss of the system.
The voltage magnitude at each bus must maintain
within its margins. The current on each branch has to lie
within its capacity limits. These constraints are expressed
as follows
Vmin 5 Vi 5 Vmax (2)
into account.
To illustrate the advantages of the two functions of Ii 5 Ii,max (3)
feeder reconfiguration and capacitor placement, consider
where
the distribution system displayed in Fig. 1 [23]. It is a
single-phase system consisting of two feeders, four capac-
itors, and a single load. There are two switches (switches
S1 and S2) placed for feeder reconfiguration and four
switches (switches S3, S41, S42, and S43) for capacitor
setting. The system load on the system will be supplied
from either of the two feeders depending on the states of
S1 and S2. Meanwhile, switch S3 controls capacitor C2,
switches S41, S42, and S43 control capacitor bank C1.
Suppose that the system is initially in the configuration
displayed in Fig. 1. Switch S1 is closed, and other switches
are open. The load is supplied from feeder 1. The initial
real power losses are 15 kW. This is the case of A in Table
1. Now, considering feeder reconfiguration of the system,
but without considering capacitor placement in the
optimization problem, there are only two cases to be
considered. One is the original case. The other case has
switch S2 closed and switch S1 open; this is the case of B in
Table 1. The real power losses of the system are 10 kW.
Furthermore, capacitor placement, together with feeder
reconfiguration, is considered. In the network, capacitor
C1 is a capacitor bank, which can be set with various tap Fig. 1. Example system as an illustration of combined feeder re-
settings making the current through capacitor C1 be 0A, configuration and capacitor setting.
 C.-T. Su, C.-S. Lee / Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97–102 99

Table 1
Losses in the system of Fig. 1

Case IC1(A) IC2(A) S1 S2 S3 S41 S42 S43 Losses (kW)

A 0 0 C O O O O O 15
B 0 0 O C O O O O 10
C 0 j100 O C C O O O 4
D j100 0 C O O C O O 6
E j200 0 C O O C C O 3
F j300 0 C O O C C C 6

O: open; C: closed.

Vi  is the voltage magnitude of bus i; 4. Simulated annealing

Vmin, Vmax are the bus minimum and maximum
voltage limits; In this study, an optimization technique based on
Ii , Ii,max are the current magnitude and maximum
current limit of branch i.
3. Simplified power-flow formulation
Power-flow study includes the calculation of bus
voltages and line flows of a network. In this study, we
employ a set of simplified power flow formulation to
avoid the complex iteration process needed for power
flow analysis. Associated with each bus, there are four
quantities to be determined or specified, which are the
real and reactive powers, the voltage magnitude and
phase angle. Considering the one-line diagram dis-
played in Fig. 2, the system is assumed to be a balanced
three-phase system. The following set of recursive equa-
tions is used for power-flow calculation [2]
simulated annealing (SA) for finding a global non-infe-
rior point is employed. In thermodynamic systems,
annealing is known as a thermal process for obtaining
low energy states of a solid in a heat bath [4,5,10,21].
The procedures of algorithm of the SA may be
summarized as follows.
Step 1. Initial state. Initialize the iteration counter
k=0, and select the beginning control parameter, T0,
which can assure a high acceptance probability in the
initial search.
Step 2. Metropolis process. This is based on a Monte
Carlo simulation and generates a series of states of the
solid. Given the current state, i, of the solid with
energy, Ei, then a subsequent state, j, with energy Ej is
generated by applying a small perturbation. If the
energy difference, Ej − Ei, is less than or equal to 0,
state j is accepted; otherwise, it is accepted with a
Pi = Pi + 1 +PLi + 1 + Ri,i + 1[(P 2i +Q 2i )/Vi 2] (4) certain probability given as
Qi = Qi + 1 + QLi + 1 +Xi,i + 1[(P 2i +Q 2i )/Vi 2] (5)
Pc = exp
Ei − Ej  (9)
Vi + 12 =Vi 2 −2(Ri,i + 1Pi +Xi,i + 1Qi ) KBT
(P 2i +Q 2i ) where T is the temperature of the heat bath, and KB is
+ (R 2i,i + 1 + X 2i,i + 1) (6)
Vi 2
where the real and reactive powers flowing out of bus i
are denoted by Pi and Qi, respectively. The real and
reactive load powers at bus i are denoted by PLi and
QLi, respectively. The resistance and reactance of the
line section between buses i and i +1 are denoted by
Ri,i + 1 and Xi,i + 1, respectively. The voltage magnitude
a physical constant known as the Boltzmann constant.
The acceptance rule described above is generally known
as the Metropolis criterion.
Step 3. Equilibrium criterion. In general, the initial
temperature should be chosen to be high enough so
that the initial acceptance ratio is close to 1, then
decreases monotonically. In this, we would perform
at bus i is denoted as Vi . The power loss of the line Metropolis process many times, and check the accep-
section connecting buses i and i+ 1 may be computed tance ratio. If the acceptance ratio is below 0.1, then we
as say that the equilibrium state is reached at this temper-
ature. If the state developed from step 2 reaches an
P 2i +Q 2i
PLOSS(i,i + 1)= Ri,i + 1 . (7) equilibrium state, then go to step 4; otherwise, go back
Vi 2 to step 2, where the acceptance ratio is defined as the
The total power loss of the feeder, PT,LOSS, may then be number of accepted cases divided by the number of
determined by summing up the losses of all line sections Metropolis processes.
in the feeder, which is given by Step 4. Cooling schedule. Temperature, T, is gradu-
n−1 ally reduced as
PT,LOSS = % PLOSS(i,i + 1). (8)
i=0 Ti + 1 = h(Ti )× Ti, i =1, 2, 3,… (10)
100 C.-T. Su, C.-S. Lee / Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97–102

Fig. 2. One-line diagram of a main feeder.

where the cooling rate, h(Ti ), can be a constant or a system displayed in Fig. 4 [1]. The system consists of
function of Ti. three feeders, 13 sectionalizing switches, and three tie
Step 5. Convergence criterion. If the state reaches the switches. The load of the system is assumed to be
minimal energy of the system, the algorithm is com- constant. Table 2 shows the data of the three-feeder
pleted, and the solution is obtained; otherwise, let
k =k +1 and go back to step 2.
We assume an analogy between a physical annealing
system and the studied combinatorial optimization
problem based on the following equivalencies.
1. Solutions in the investigated problem are equivalent
to states of a physical system.
2. The real power loss of a solution is equivalent to the
energy of a state.

5. Computational procedures of the proposed method

A technique employing feeder reconfiguration and

setting of switched capacitor to reduce power loss for
distribution systems is presented. Simulated annealing
is employed as the optimization technique. The compu-
tational procedures of the proposed method are mainly
composed of power-loss calculation, bus voltage deter-
mination, and simulated annealing application. The
computational procedures find a series of configura-
tions with different status of switches and addition of
capacitors such that the objective function is succes-
sively reduced.
During the solution process, the number of the
switches will be fixed, regardless of the variation in the
topology of the system. The fixed-type capacitors of
distribution systems can be seen as straight reactive
load that cannot be changed. Therefore, the parameters
that decide the minimum loss configuration are the
status of the switches and settings of the switched
capacitors. A flow chart describing the main computa-
tional procedures is shown in Fig. 3.

6. Application example

To demonstrate the application of the proposed

method, we employ an IEEE three-feeder distribution Fig. 3. Main computational procedures.
 C.-T. Su, C.-S. Lee / Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97–102 101

Fig. 4. Three-feeder distribution system. Fig. 5. Modification of the three-feeder distribution system consider-
ing setting of switched capacitors.

distribution system [1]. This system had been studied in

Refs. [1] [10], in which only feeder reconfiguration is
considered. In this study, both feeder reconfiguration
and setting of switched capacitors are taken into ac-
count together. The data for SA application are se-
lected as KB = 1, T0 =30, Tf =6.4, h =0.95, kmax = 300
and base power=100 Mva. Moreover, assume that
buses 4, 8, and 13 are selected to set up switched
capacitor banks for feeders 1, 2, and 3, respectively.
Practical sizes available for the switched capacitor
banks are 300, 600, 900, 1200, 1500, and 1800 Kvar.
Fig. 4 is redrawn in Fig. 5 to further display the
switched capacitor banks.
For comparison, we had investigated four cases for
this application example. These four cases are as
follows.
Case 1. Only feeder reconfiguration is considered.
Case 2. Only capacitor addition is considered.
Case 3. Both capacitor addition and feeder reconfigu-
ration are considered. However, capacitor addition is
carried out before feeder reconfiguration.
Case 4. Both capacitor addition and feeder reconfigu-
ration are considered and are taken into account
simultaneously.
The computer program used in this paper has been
written in MATLAB language implemented on the
Pentium II 266 MHz compatible personal computer.
Table 3 shows the final results. Where case 1 has the
same result as that of Ref. [10]. The computational
results show that case 4 can reduce power loss the most
among these four cases.
This method has been applied to a practical 11.4 Kv
distribution system of Taiwan Power Company as well.
The distribution network includes nine feeders, 41 sec-
tionalizing switches, and nine tie switches. Numerical
results show that the proposed method is efficient on
power-loss reduction.
7. Conclusions
An useful feeder reconfiguration and capacitor place-
ment approach employing simulated annealing tech-
nique for loss reduction of distribution systems is

Table 2
Data of the three-feeder distribution system

Bus to bus Section resistance Section reactance (P.U.) End bus load End bus load End bus fixed capacitor
(P.U.) (MW) (MVAR) (MVAR)

1–4 0.075 0.1 2.0 1.6

4–5 0.08 0.11 3.0 1.5 1.1
4–6 0.09 0.18 2.0 0.8 1.2
6–7 0.04 0.04 1.5 1.2
2–8 0.11 0.11 4.0 2.7
8–9 0.08 0.11 5.0 3.0 1.2
8–10 0.11 0.11 1.0 0.9
9–11 0.11 0.11 0.6 0.1 0.6
9–12 0.08 0.11 4.5 2.0 3.7
3–13 0.11 0.11 1.0 0.9
13–14 0.09 0.12 1.0 0.7 1.8
13–15 0.11 0.11 1.0 0.9
15–16 0.04 0.04 2.1 1.0 1.8
5–11 0.04 0.04
10–14 0.04 0.04
7–16 0.12 0.12
102 C.-T. Su, C.-S. Lee / Electric Power Systems Research 58 (2001) 97–102
Table 3
Final results for the four cases investigated
Main items Original configuration Case 1
Switches status alternated – (15,19), (21,17)
Maximum bus voltage 1 1
Minimum bus voltage 0.9693 0.9716
Capacitors added (K6ar)
Bus 4
Bus 8 – –
Bus 13
Total power loss (MW) 0.5111 0.4660
Power-loss reduction (%) – 8.82
CPU time (s) – 7.5
proposed. From the studies, several important observa-
tions can be concluded as follows:
1. The power losses of distribution systems can be
effectively reduced by proper feeder reconfiguration
and capacitor addition.
2. Considering both feeder reconfiguration and setting
of switched capacitor simultaneously can generate
more losses reduction than considering them lonely
or separately.
3. In addition to power-loss reduction, the voltage
profile can be improved as well by the proposed
method.
This method is helpful either for operation of an
existing system or for planning of a future system.
Further research taking reliability enhancement and
load balancing into account using the proposed method
is suggested.
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– (15,19), (21,17) (15,19), (21,17)
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