Innovative planning method for the construction of electrical distribution network master plans

This paper proposes a method to optimize the feeders' routes for medium-voltage distribution grids. The study aims to provide a static model for the construction of master plans and can also be applied to expansion planning. The optimization of the network is performed by a three-stage methodology. The first stage minimizes the total length of the conductors with an adapted simulated annealing algorithm. The secured feeder architecture is directly modelled in the structure of the solution. The second stage performs the balancing of the loads between the feeders in order to respect the different technical constraints. The last stage is the allocation of remote-controlled switches according to the objectives of supply quality. The methodology is applied to a real distribution network of 136 nodes. The complexity of the example is significant because there are no preselected possible routes. Instead of that, all the connections are considered, taking into account the geographical topology of urban areas.