Scenario-based planning of fast charging stations considering network reconfiguration using cooperative coevolutionary approach

In recent years, plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have attracted a great deal of attention because of environmental issues. For large-scale integration of PEVs, appropriate siting and sizing of PEV charging stations are essential. In this paper, a framework for simultaneous fast charging stations (FCSs) planning and distribution network re-configuration is proposed. The distribution network reconfiguration is effectively used to optimize objective functions. The objective function considered is defined as the sum of the initial investment and energy loss costs subject to different distribution system constraints. In the model, a scenario-based approach is used for taking into account uncertainties of traditional electric load, FCS load, and electricity price. To reduce the computational burden of the problem, a scenario reduction technique is utilized. A cooperative coevolutionary genetic algorithm (CCGA) is employed to solve the problem. The FCSs locations and the network switches are coded separately, and they evolve cooperatively as two different species, i.e., the location species and the switch species. Furthermore, an efficient technique called Dijkstra's algorithm is used to calculate FCSs sizes in which the nearest FCS to PEVs is determined based on their driving distance from FCSs on their path to their destination. Finally, the performance and the effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated by numerical results. More specifically, use of the proposed scenario-based approach yields to a more accurate solution than deterministic method. In addition, usage of network reconfiguration in FCSs planning both reduces the total costs and improves the voltage profile.