Optimal Location of Normally Closed Switches in Medium Voltage Distribution Networks

This research paper presents a deterministic optimization technique for the optimal location of normally closed switches on a realistic medium voltage distribution network located in Portugal. The goal is to minimize the expected outage costs to consumers in conjunction with normally closed switches capital investment, installation, and annual operation and maintenance costs, improving at the same time the level of reliability and service quality of distribution networks. The optimization approach is developed as mixed-integer linear programming using CPLEX solver in the TOMLAB optimization tool. The global solution obtained was successfully tested and validated with real data of the above-mentioned Portuguese network. The presented results indicate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.