A modified harmony search based method for optimal rural radial line planning

Abstract

Long medium voltage radial lines are usually used to supply power to large areas with a very low population/ load density. Generally, the planning of this kind of lines involves both continuous and discrete variables, or in other word, this problem is a mixed integer programming one. Many available algorithms may experience difficulties in solving this kind of problems. In this work, a Harmony Search (HS) based optimization approach is developed to solve the radial line planning problem. Furthermore, some modifications to the HS are presented for improving the computational efficiency of optimization problems with strongly interrelated mixed variables. A sample system is served for demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Key words: radial line planning, harmony search, mixed integer programming; radial line planning