Technical and Economical Analysis of Different Measures for Efficient Operation of a Distribution Network in a Mediterranean Island

The paper performs a technical and economical comparison of different measures to improve the efficiency of a MV system for power distribution in the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. The study takes into consideration three possible measures: 1) rated voltage increase from 10 kV to 20 kV; 2) reactive power compensation with fixed capacitor banks; 3) reactive power compensation with switchable capacitor banks. While the study of the first two considered measures is carried out with classical design methods, the optimal reactive design with switchable capacitor banks is carried out by means of a specific software set up at the DIEET and implementing the multiobjective optimization genetic algorithm NSGA-II. The paper reports the results of the study, giving particular importance to the formulation of the optimization problem through the NSGA-II algorithm, that, also in this case, proves to be a powerful investigation tool.