Optimal DG Location and Sizing to Minimize Losses and Improve Voltage Profile Using Garra Rufa Optimization

Distributed generation (DG) refers to small generating plants that usually develop green energy and are located close to the load buses. Thus, reducing active as well as reactive power losses, enhancing stability and reliability, and many other benefits arise in the case of a suitable selection in terms of the location and the size of the DGs, especially in smart cities. In this work, a new nature-inspired algorithm called Garra Rufa optimization is selected to determine the optimal DG allocation. The new metaheuristic algorithm stimulates the massage fish activity during finding food using MATLAB software. In addition, three indexes which are apparently powered loss compounds and voltage profile, are considered to estimate the effectiveness of the proposed method. To validate the proposed algorithm, the IEEE 30 and 14 bus standard test systems were employed. Moreover, five cases of DGs number are tested for both standards to provide a set of complex cases. The results significantly show the high performance of the proposed method especially in highly complex cases compared to particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). The DG allocation, using the proposed method, reduces the active power losses of the IEEE-14 bus system up to 236.7873%, by assuming 5DGs compared to the active power losses without DG. Furthermore, the GRO increases the maximum voltage stability index of the IEEE-30 bus system by 857% in case of the 4DGs, whereas GA rises the reactive power of 5DGs to benefit the IEEE-14 bus system by 195.1%.

Automated summary

Distributed generation refers to small generating plants that develop green energy and are located close to the load buses. In this study, the Garra Rufa optimization algorithm is selected to determine the optimal allocation of these plants. The algorithm, inspired by the activity of massage fish, is implemented using MATLAB software. The proposed method is validated using the IEEE 30 and 14 bus standard test systems, and the results show its high performance compared to other algorithms.