Energies, Vol. 11, Pages 1018: Optimal Sizing and Location of Distributed Generators Based on PBIL and PSO Techniques (Energies)

The optimal location and sizing of distributed generation is a suitable option for improving the operation of electric systems. This paper proposes a parallel implementation of the Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm to locate distributed generators (DGs), and the use of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to define the size those devices. The resulting method is a master-slave hybrid approach based on both the parallel PBIL (PPBIL) algorithm and the PSO, which reduces the computation time in comparison with other techniques commonly used to address this problem. Moreover, the new hybrid method also reduces the active power losses and improves the nodal voltage profiles. In order to verify the performance of the new method, test systems with 33 and 69 buses are implemented in Matlab, using Matpower, for evaluating multiple cases. Finally, the proposed method is contrasted with the Loss Sensitivity Factor (LSF), a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a Parallel Monte-Carlo algorithm. The results demonstrate that the proposed PPBIL-PSO method provides the best balance between processing time, voltage profiles and reduction of power losses.