(N-1) contingency planning in radial distribution networks using genetic algorithms

Abstract

(N-1) contingency planning has been object of study in the area of distribution networks of several decades. Energy distribution companies have to reconnect areas affected by an outage within a very short time, and observe operational constraints, to avoid the possibility of severe financial penalties by regulatory bodies. Distribution networks are often operated with a radial topology, but, ideally, should have more than one route to deliver energy to any node of the network. Switches in the network are opened to create the radial topology used in normal operation, and, in the case of an outage, alternate routes are activated by opening or closing switches located at specific points of the ..