Multiobjective switching devices placement considering environmental constrains in distribution networks with distributed energy resources

In the past years, the Electrical Utility Industry has been confronted with numerous challenges, which include amongst others, the widespread use of distributed energy resources and a public increase in environmental issues. By optimizing the location of switching devices on the electrical distribution system, an improvement in energy not supplied and in the use of distributed energy resources can be obtained. This work proposes the genetic evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II for the multiobjective optimal placement of the switching devices. A trade-off between the investment in switching devices, energy not supplied and greenhouse gas emissions is analyzed, in order to choose the optimal placement of switching devices in distribution electrical networks. The proposed method was tested with a Portuguese real distribution network. The obtained results are presented and discussed.