Microgrid Planning in Distribution Networks Considering Optimal Placement of Distributed Generation Units

Due to increasing penetration of renewable energy-based distributed generation (DG), conventional distribution networks are transformed into their active form, where microgrids are considered fundamental building blocks. Optimal placement of DG units is the primary step towards microgrid planning. Optimally placed and sized DGs can reduce the total power losses in distribution networks by localizing the power supply to loads. In this paper, a DG optimal placement method by minimizing the total power losses is proposed, where Brute Force search algorithm and Backward Forward Sweep method are used to solve the optimization and load flow problems, respectively. IEEE 33 bus radial distribution test system is used to validate the proposed method in MATLAB. Several case studies are conducted, dispatchable and non-dispatchable DGs and capacitor banks are used in the optimal placement and sizing. The proposed method is proved to be effective by comparing with an existing method.