Penetration Level Assessment of Distributed Generation by means of Genetic Algorithms

The large amount of Distributed Generation (DG), that will be installed in the near future, drastically changes the behaviour of the typical passive MV distribution network. If it is not correctly applied, it can cause degradation of power quality, reliability and control of the power system, vanishing the advantages it can introduce. This context determines the need of new tools that help the planner to correctly evaluate the DG impact on the distribution network and to find the best size and location of the DG for feeder voltage support and loss reduction. For these reasons, the paper proposes a software procedure, based on a Genetic Algorithm, able to establish the optimal distributed generation allocation on an existing MV distribution network, considering all technical constraints like feeder capacity limits, feeder voltage profile and three-phase short circuit current. The objective function implemented includes among its terms the costs of buying energy from the transmission system and from the DG units. This allows assessing the more convenient penetration level of DG in a distribution network. Application examples are presented to illustrate the algorithm effectiveness.