A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Capacitor Allocation Problem in Radial Distribution Networks Using an Improved Stochastic Fractal Search Algorithm

This research proposes a modified metaheuristic optimization algorithm, named as improved stochastic fractal search (ISFS), which is formed based on the integration of the quasiopposition-based learning (QOBL) and chaotic local search (CLS) schemes into the original SFS algorithm for solving the optimal capacitor placement (OCP) in radial distribution networks (RDNs). The test problem involves the determination of the optimal number, location, and size of fixed and switched capacitors at different loading conditions so that the network total yearly cost is minimized with simultaneous fulfillment of operating constraints. Also, the hourly on/off scheduling plans of switched shunt capacitors (SCs) considering a modified cost objective function are obtained. The proposed ISFS algorithm has been tested on two IEEE 69-bus and 119-bus RDNs and a practical 152-bus RDN. For clarifying the effectiveness and validation of the ISFS, the simulated results have been compared with those of other previously utilized solution approaches in the literature as well as the original SFS. From result comparison, the proposed ISFS outperforms other previous approaches regarding solution quality and statistical performance for the compared cases, especially in the complex and large-scale networks. Notably, compared with the original SFS, the proposed ISFS shows a significantly better performance in all the tested cases.