A Multistage Expansion Planning Method for Optimal Substation Placement

The connection points between mv and lv distribution networks are mvsubstations. optimal sitting, sizing and timing of mv substation placement is the majorplanning problem in mv-lv distribution system planning projects. in this paper theoptimal mv substation placement problem is solved using imperialist competitivealgorithm (ica) as a new developed heuristic optimization algorithm. this proposedprocedure is determined the optimal location, capacity and installation time of mvsubstation, regarding the operating and optimization constraints. a multistage and pseudodynamicexpansion planning methodology is applied to consider uncertainties in networkparameters such as forecasted load, asset management and geographical constraints. inorder to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method obtained by ica, a sensitivityanalysis for the effect of ica parameters on obtained results is applied. a graphicalrepresentation of results is used to illustrate the efficiency and capability of the procedureboth from the planning and graphical aspects. the proposed method has been tested on areal size distribution network.