Distributed Generation planning in smart distribution grids via a meta-heuristic approach

The smart grid allows its consumers to participate in producing cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally friendly electricity. The consumers in a smart grid, for example, can install small-scale Distributed Generation (DG) units to supply their own loads and support the grid during the peak periods. However, these DG units need to be properly rated and located in the grid to avoid any technical problems such as voltage violations. Thus, in this paper, the planning of multiple DG units problem is tackled by using a Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (HPSO). The developed HPSO approach is tested on a 69-bus test system. The results obtained outperformed those found in the literature.