Effect of an Optimal Conductor Size Selection Scheme for Single Wire Earth Return Power Distribution Networks For Rural Electrification

This research presents an improved optimal conductor size selection scheme for single wire earth return (SWER) in power distribution networks for rural electrification. The power distribution has become a challenge from grid extension for rural electrification due to high cost of electrification. Single wire earth return power distribution system is a cost effective means of rural electrification but is prone to high cost of power loss and cost of conductor due to improper size of conductor. The backward/forward sweep algorithm is used to determine the base case reactive power loss and active power loss while particle swarm optimization technique is used for optimal conductor size selection and cost of conductor in both primary and lateral of the network. The objective functions were formulated considering cost of conductor selection, power loss and voltage profile improvement. The developed method is implemented on extracted 13-bus of Namibia SWER distribution system and IEEE 13-bus system network in order to validate efficient of the proposed method via comparison to MINLP. The results show the effectiveness of this method in reducing power loss on the network and optimal selection of conductor size which results in reduction in the cost of conductor for the distribution network.