Application of Soft Open Points for Increasing the Supply Restoration in Active Distribution Networks

Ensuring continuity in energy supply is a basic concern for the proper functioning of active distribution networks (ADNs). Therefore, the benefits of Soft Open Points (SOPs) application are analyzed in this study, as their optimal coordination can provide the expansion of the service restoration rate, additional to the voltage profile improvement. In this paper, a mixed-integer second-order cone programming methodology is proposed to obtain the optimal coordination of multiple SOPs in order to improve the self-healing capabilities of ADNs. To validate the efficiency of the proposed model, a modified IEEE 33-node distribution network that contains multiple photovoltaics is analyzed in fault conditions, considering the restoration scenarios with or without SOP installation.