Optimal reconfiguration of active distribution network considering flexible load scheduling

At present, most of the existing optimal reconfiguration method of active distribution network (ADN) aims at the change of network topology, without considering flexible load. This situation makes a low efficiency of the existing method when facing the situation with large amount of flexible load in ADN. A bi-layer optimal reconfiguration model including an outer layer and inner layer is presented considering flexible load optimal dispatching to improve the efficiency of ADN reconfiguration. Unlike the conventional method, the two layers of the proposed bi-layer method are combined in each iteration. At each iteration the reconfiguration scheme is obtained by solving a binary optimal model in the outer layer, and the flexible loads are optimized in the inner layer. So, the optimal network topology and the optimal flexible load scheme are obtained at the same iteration. This would increase the efficiency of the reconfiguration scheme than that get by the conventional two-stage method. Finally, the importance of flexible load during ADN reconfiguration is proved, and the validity of the proposed method is verified by the comparison simulations.