2684
4, OCTOBER 2010
Multicriteria Distribution Network Reconfiguration
Considering Subtransmission Analysis
Daniel Pinheiro Bernardon, Member, IEEE, Vinicius Jacques Garcia, Adriana Scheffer Quintela Ferreira, and
Luciane Neves Canha
Abstract—Topological reconfiguration is an important tool for
the planning and operation of electric power distribution systems.
The amount of time that an algorithm spends on obtaining an al-
ternative topological status for the system is not a primary con-
cern, since the main goals of distribution operation planning are
the reduction of power losses, the enhancement of the voltage pro-
file, and the increase of reliability levels. The utility can use mul-
tiple criteria regarding the observation of regulation policies and
public awareness to drive the topological reconfiguration. Several
researchers are looking for new optimization methods, as the com-
plexity of this combinatorial issue is high in large systems and the
classic optimization methods are failing to address the problem
reasonably. Therefore, we propose a new fuzzy multicriteria deci-
sion making algorithm and software to distribution network recon-
figuration also including the power losses analysis of subtransmis-
sion systems. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demon-
strated with case studies involving actual systems.
Index Terms—Fuzzy algorithms, multicriteria decision making,
network reconfiguration, power losses, reliability.
I. INTRODUCTION
A LTHOUGH power distribution systems are usually con-
figured radially, the act of opening or closing switches
or protection devices (located at strategic points) can possibly
change the topology of these systems. In this context, the net-
work is reconfigured to maintain its radial topology and to re-
duce power losses at the feeders, to enhance the voltage profile
for customers, and to increase the reliability levels.
This reconfiguration problem is combinatorial, making the
use of classical methods to solve it optimally [1] prohibitive.
In general, this reconfiguration problem cannot be optimally
solved without considering: 1) the proper modeling of the dis-
tribution networks elements and the electrical loads; 2) the algo-
rithms to handle configuration changes in the network topology
in a timely manner; 3) the load-flow calculations; 4) the com-
position of the objective functions and constraints; and 5) the
optimization and the decision-making techniques used to define
the ideal electrical configuration.
Manuscript received February 02, 2009; revised May 05, 2009. First pub-
lished March 01, 2010; current version published September 22, 2010. Paper
no. TPWRD-00083-2009.
D. P. Bernardon, V. J. Garcia, and A. S. Q. Ferreira are with the UNIPAMPA,
Federal University of Pampa, Pampa 97.546-550, Brazil.
L. N. Canha is with the UFSM, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa
Maria 97.105-900, Brazil.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2010.2041013
0885-8977/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO.
Several researchers have addressed the multicriteria recon-
figuration problem. Baran [2], Hong [3], Nara [4], and Su [5]
describe concepts and techniques applied to this problem. Min-
imization of power losses and maximization of the load bal-
ance are the two most common criteria used to reconfigure net-
works. The reconfiguration has also to consider radial topology,
limits on voltage, and current profiles constraints. In addition,
one important and convenient aspect refers to uncertainty on the
input data or in the degree of importance when multicriteria take
place in the resolution methodology, as Das [6], Dugan [7], and
Venkatesh [8] have assumed in their approaches.
This paper presents a new algorithm for reducing power
losses and improving reliability on network reconfigurations.
Another contribution of this paper is the evaluation of power
losses on distribution and subtransmission systems, promoting
a global analysis on the impact of switching operations. The
algorithm is based on fuzzy multicriteria decision making
and is implemented in a proof-of-concept tool. We chose the
Bellman–Zadeh method [9] for the fuzzy resolution method-
ology, as it has been successfully applied to multicriteria
problems and it promotes final solutions belonging to the
Pareto objective space [10]. The algorithm can be config-
ured according to the needs of the utilities, helping in the
decision-making process. The tool support helps to choose
the option that meets the objective functions best, while still
observing the proposed constraints.
It is important to note that this paper considers the analysis of
the existing systems (i.e., the topology changes are performed
considering the current position of the switches).
Therefore, the main contributions of this paper are as follows.
1) A solution for the distribution network reconfiguration
problem using the Bellman-Zadeh method.
2) The evaluation of losses including subtransmission
systems.
II. TOPOLOGY ALGORITHM
One common approach for topological representation of elec-
trical networks is through the use of the matrix, where all ele-
ment connections are interpreted so that one is able to repro-
duce as faithfully as possible the actual configuration of the dis-
tribution network in study. Nevertheless, for actual distribution
systems, the matrix may have a dimension that is too elevated,
with few elements different from zero and causing unnecessary
processing time. One way to address this problem is to use the
sparse matrix or to use the method developed in [11], which also
allows the calculation of load flows and the execution of opti-
mization algorithms in a faster and simpler way. The alternative
BERNARDON et al.: MULTICRITERIA DISTRIBUTION NETWORK RECONFIGURATION 2685

should also be analyzed since those loads have values dependent

of this changing. However, this direct analysis by computation
algorithms has shown to be really time-consuming when consid-
ering the operation characteristics: distribution systems are ra-
dial while subtransmission ones are meshed. Thus, specialized
methods to calculate load flow for each system are required.
This paper proposes an alternative method for calculating
power losses on subtransmission systems, applying nonlinear
Fig. 1. Representation of parameters ' and  .
TABLE I
NETWORK IN FIG. 2
method is described as follows, which considers only the in-
formation about the connections that really exist, without using
matrices.
It was necessary to define two sets to achieve this: one con-
taining the information on nodes and the other containing the
information on the branches. Since each branch is represented
by an initial and a final node, it is essentially necessary that the
initial node would be the closest to the main source providing
power, that is, the substation.
This methodology allows identifying the dependences among
the networks, loads, and devices, also checking whether the con-
figuration is correct and complete. Therefore, it was necessary
to attribute two characteristics to the elements in order to repre-
sent the connections existing between them:
information about the branch within the “branch”
set;
information about the feeding branch of the branch
being considered.
The parameter is used only to identify the order of the net-
work branch within the branch set (we opted for a numerical
order). The parameter receives the value of the parameter
upstream of the considered branch. Fig. 1 shows the represen-
tation of and .
The electric way of a radial system can be obtained by using
this methodology as shown in Table I.
Next, the algorithm for network reconfiguration is described
on Section IV and takes this approach into account.
III. EXPERIMENT DESIGN: CONSIDERING POWER
LOSSES ON SUBSTRANSMISSION SYSTEMS
When the reconfiguration of distribution networks involves
feeders from different substations, the impact on power systems
factorial experiment design. This method performs simulations
in order to obtain the equation which represents the power losses
of a system according to substation loads.
The simulations are performed in accordance with design ma-
trix, including the number and the type of required tests.
Reference [12] describes how to create the design matrix used
to perform the simulations needed to obtain the coefficients of
(1).
Therefore, the following regression equation is constructed
from the simulation results:
(1)
where
b coefficient of nonlinear regression model;
x variable of experiment, assumed as substation values.
Considering the subtransmission system of Fig. 2 and three
variables (current values on substations 1, 2, and 3), the fol-
lowing model was constructed:
(2)
where
power losses in subtransmission system
of Fig. 2 (in kilowatts);
, and current magnitude values on substations
1, 2 and 3, respectively, normalized by
average values.
This model has presented an average deviation of 2.3% when
compared with power losses value obtained with ANAREDE
[13], one traditional software to calculate load flow in power
transmission systems, analyzing several load rates. Thus, the
model was considered satisfactory for calculating the power
losses of the system shown in Fig. 2.
The model described by (2) will be used to evaluate the power
losses in the subtransmission systems during the distribution
networks reconfiguration process. Input variables of (2) will be
the total current of the Fig. 2 substations, which are obtained by
computing the MV reconfiguration.
IV. DISTRIBUTION NETWORK RECONFIGURATION
An optimization problem is derived from the switching pro-
cedures to change the network topology. This problem is known
2686
Fig. 2. Subtransmission system.
as the network reconfiguration problem. The main goal is to find
an optimal operation strategy.
An efficient solution for this problem requires the selection
of the most appropriate operation topology among all available
configurations. The cost of inspecting all possible configura-
tions is prohibitive for current distribution systems, since the
number of possible configurations grows exponentially given
the number of switches and their layout in the system. This ex-
ponential growth is known as a combinatorial explosion [14].
Therefore, we propose a heuristic algorithm for the solution
of the distribution network reconfiguration problem, using an ef-
ficient fuzzy multicriteria decision-making method. It removes
the less promising configurations, aiming at reducing the search
space of the optimization problem. The goal is to reduce power
losses, enhance the voltage profile for customers, and increase
the reliability levels.
We defined the optimization criteria and the constraints ac-
cording to the inherent characteristics of the problem, to the reg-
ulation policies, and to public awareness.
A. Objective Functions and Constraints
Several aspects are considered in the definition of the objec-
tive function of the network reconfiguration problem. The min-
imization of power losses is one of most commonly considered
ones, together with the maximization of the reliability indices,
used by several researchers as another aspect to be addressed
[15].
The current limit on the electrical elements (conductors,
transformers, protection, and switching devices) is a typical
constraint included in the network reconfiguration problem.
Another important and frequent constraint is the voltage limit,
closely related to power quality (PQ) [16].
Considering the previous comments, the objective functions
and constraints are defined as follows:
1) Objective Functions:
• minimization of global power losses (subtransmission and
distribution systems)
(3)
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2010
• minimization of the number of interrupted customers per
year
(4)
2) Constraints:
• radial network;
• current magnitude of each element must lie within its per-
missible limits
(5)
• voltage magnitude of each node must lie within its permis-
sible ranges
(6)
where
loss function;
reliability function;
current at branch ;
maximum current accepted at branch ;
resistance of branch ;
voltage magnitude at node ;
minimum voltage magnitude accepted at
node ;
maximum voltage magnitude accepted at
node ;
failure rates at feeder n—average
interruptions per year in 1 km;
length of branches protected by the
protective device at feeder ;
number of customers downstream the
protective device at feeder .
To obtain load-flow values in the distribution system, our
algorithm implements the classical backward/forward sweep
method [17]. With load-flow values, the power losses for the
distribution system are obtained, while power losses for the
subtransmission system are calculated through (2). In the case
studies to the network reconfiguration, the maximum load pro-
file was adopted by properly representing the worst operation
scenario in the sense of power losses.
The traditional reliability equation [18] is used to compute
the number of interrupted customers per year, as illustrated
in the expression of (4). Note that this objective function is
closely related to the system average interruption frequency
index (SAIFI). Violation of limits related to current and voltage
on the electrical elements is prohibited.
B. Proposed Method for Selecting Configurations
We considered heuristic search procedures in the definition
of the proposed methodology based on the branch-exchange
BERNARDON et al.: MULTICRITERIA DISTRIBUTION NETWORK RECONFIGURATION 2687

strategy. Using this strategy, a radial configuration is assumed

at first, and several switching procedures are applied, aiming
at producing new and promising configurations, always main-
taining the network radial topology [19]. These applied proce-
dures correspond to opening one switch and closing another one.
The generated configurations are then classified according
to the defined objective functions, while still considering the
chosen constraints. Note that infeasible solutions are removed.
The key idea is to analyze the tie (normally opened) switches
between feeders. For each tie switch, the best configuration is
considered regarding the two feeders involved. In this moment,
isolated analyses for each tie switch are conducted based on the
initial configuration. Note that this paper considers the analysis
of the existing systems (i.e., the topology changes are performed
considering the current position of the switches).
The algorithm for selecting the candidate configurations is
defined as follows.
Stage 1) Change the network configuration, closing a normally
opened (NO) tie switch and opening a normally closed
(NC) switch of any of the two feeders involved. How-
ever, it should be the first switch upstream from the tie
switch (Fig. 3). Go to Stage 2.
Stage 2) Perform the load-flow calculation for this new con-
figuration and check if both objective functions are Fig. 3. Distribution network. (a) Initial configuration. (b) Switching status
improved without violating the constraints. If they are changed.
improved, proceed to the third stage. Otherwise, go to
Stage 4.
Stage 3) Change the network configuration, closing the actual
NO tie switch and opening the first NC switch upstream
from the NO tie switch, but in the same direction (feeder)
that the switch was opened in the previous iteration (Fig.
4). Go to Stage 5.
Stage 4) Re-establish the initial configuration and change the
network topology, closing the NO tie switch and opening
the NC switch of the other feeder upstream from the tie
switch (Fig. 5). Go to Stage 5.
Stage 5) Stage 3 is performed when both objective functions are
improved for the considered configuration without vio- Fig. 4. Switching status changed.
lating the defined constraints. The process is completed
and configuration of the previous iteration is assumed as
final if infeasibility is found or one of the objective func-
tions does not improve a given configuration.
The process must be repeated when another tie switch is an-
alyzed, beginning with the initial configuration.
The flowchart in Fig. 6 illustrates this algorithm.

C. Multicriteria Decision-Making Algorithm

This section presents the algorithm for determining the dis-

tribution network configuration, based on multicriteria analysis.
The main goal is to define a sequence of switch manipulations
according to the results obtained from the application of the
method described in the previous section. Multicriteria anal-
ysis guides the switch manipulation, aiming at reaching the best
configuration resulting from the application of our proposed
methodology.
The algorithm is applied to the tie switches according the
best results, without returning back to the initial configuration
Fig. 5. Switching status changed on the opposite direction.
when analyzing the next tie switch. The main challenge is to
define which tie switches hold the best results according to the
two objective functions. For example, one configuration has the
most promising values for power losses, whereas the other one is
better evaluated for the reliability function. A decision-making
2688
Fig. 6. Algorithm to define the optimal configuration for each tie switch.
Fig. 7. Intersection between the membership functions.
Fig. 8. Example network with five tie switches.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2010
TABLE II
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS FOR EACH TIE SWITCH
algorithm is the key for deciding which configuration is the best
one.
We use the Bellman–Zadeh method [9] as the deci-
sion-making technique for our approach because of its ef-
ficiency in handling quantitative and qualitative criteria for the
problem resolution. The objective functions are replaced by
other functions in the form of fuzzy sets.
Note that the contribution of this paper complements the work
of [20] with the use of new objective functions and constraints,
making the algorithm more efficient and closer to the real ap-
plication, also including the analysis of the subtransmission. In
addition, practical results are shown.
Equations (7) and (8) describe two membership functions:
one for objective functions to be maximized and another one
for objective functions to be minimized, respectively
(7)
(8)
The maximum intersection between the membership func-
tions is the best configuration, that is, the best solution, as shown
(9)
Fig. 7 illustrates this approach.
It should be mentioned that this approach, if necessary, has
also considered different importance levels to the criteria de-
fined, resulting in (10) and (11) as follows initially obtained
from (7) and (8), respectively
(10)
(11)
where
importance level to the objective function j to .
Tables II and III show the results of a hypothetical example
of the application of the Belman–Zadeh algorithm for selecting
the configuration of distribution networks with five tie switches
(Fig. 8) whose membership functions are calculated from (7)
and (8).
BERNARDON et al.: MULTICRITERIA DISTRIBUTION NETWORK RECONFIGURATION
TABLE III
MEMBERSHIP FUNCTIONS VALUES AND FUZZY SOLUTIONS
TABLE IV
RESULTS FOR THE RECONFIGURATION PROBLEM
Note that the reconfiguration algorithm will be applied in
the tie switches, respecting the best sequence (TS -5, TS -4,
TS -2, TS -1, TS –3). However, not all of these switches will
be changed necessarily. There can be a configuration that does
not present any gain in both objective functions and/or violate
the constraints, because the initial configuration is not returned
when the next tie switch is analyzed. Thus, there is no guarantee
that the same result will be obtained in the individual analysis
of the tie switch, which is related to the original configuration.
At the end of this process, the set containing the switches that
yields the best results is obtained.
V. EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS
We have tested the proposed algorithm in one medium-size
distribution network, presented by Schimidt [21], which in-
cludes 96 branches and 28 switches. The best solution for
this network was previously obtained by the exhaustive search
considering only the minimization of power losses, as shown
in Table IV.
Alternative techniques were applied by Schmidt [21] in order
to be extremely fast even though there is no guarantee to achieve
the global minimum. Moreover, this approach does not con-
sider electrical constraints when obtaining the results shown in
Table IV.
On the other hand, the methodology proposed in this paper
aims to be applied to actual systems and in these cases, the
Schmidt’s approach has an execution time comparable to the
time required by our method: if we consider [21, Tables IV and
V], the system that has been presented has a complexity very
2689
Fig. 9. Actual distribution network considered.
TABLE V
RESULTS FOR EACH TIE-SWITCH ANALYSIS.
similar to that of Fig. 9 and the time required for both is around
40 s. In addition, the main contribution of this paper is not only
to propose a method suitable for actual systems but also that
takes into consideration multicriteria and the analysis of power
losses in subtransmission systems.
These aspects are considered in case studies including ac-
tual subtransmission and distribution networks to verify the ef-
ficiency of our approach. Fig. 9 presents this network, which in-
cludes 2 substations, 5 feeders, 922 branches, 99 switches, and
15 tie switches. All of the substations are supplied by the sub-
transmission system presented in Fig. 2. Substation 1 was not
represented in Fig. 9 because the distribution networks which
it attends to do not present interconnections with substations 2
and 3.
Table V presents the results obtained when our approach is
applied to the actual system (Fig. 9). Isolated analyses were con-
ducted for each tie switch from the initial configuration.
The reconfiguration algorithm was applied in the tie switches,
respecting the best sequence of Table V. The initial configura-
tion is considered only for the first one, namely, the initial con-
2690
TABLE VI
RESULTS FOR THE SEQUENCE DEFINED IN TABLE V
TABLE VII
RESULTS FOR THE NETWORK RECONFIGURATION OF FIG. 9
figuration is not returned when the next tie switch is analyzed.
Thus, there is no guarantee that the same result will be obtained
in the individual analysis of the tie switch, which is related to
the original configuration. At the end of this process, the set
containing the switches that yield the best results is obtained
(Table VI).
Table VII shows the obtained results for the proposed method
compared to the initial configuration, considering the actual
system.
Analyzing Table VII, we conclude that our proposed method-
ology obtained a reduction on the power losses of 9.7%, and on
the number of interrupted customers per year of 12.5%, when
compared to the initial configuration.
Assuming that there is no guarantee about the optimality
of the solution found, we applied the proposed algorithm to
the final solution found, described in Table VI. Given that
the process does not yield any improvements, we have been
optimistic about the quality of the solution obtained.
Table VIII presents the amount of reduction of power losses
in the distribution and subtransmission systems. We compared
the results with the ones obtained from the application of the
method, analyzing only the distribution systems in order to
verify the influence of considering subtransmission systems in
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 25, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2010
TABLE VIII
EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF CONSIDERING
LOSSES IN THE SUBTRANSMISSION SYSTEMS.
the analysis of power losses during the distribution network
reconfiguration process.
In reference to the distribution power losses, although the
better result is obtained when analyzing only the distribution
system, which is expected, the reduction of the total amount of
power losses is smaller.
This result confirms the importance of a global analysis (dis-
tribution and subtransmission), aimed at obtaining better results
with the process of network reconfiguration.
The computational time required was less than one minute to
the large system, 39 s to the distribution network reconfiguration
of Fig. 9, which seems to be appropriate for an actual network.
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The main contributions of this paper are a new fuzzy multi-
criteria decision-making algorithm for the network reconfigura-
tion problem, using the Bellman–Zadeh method and evaluation
of power losses including subtransmission systems. The flexi-
bility of the proposed methodology provides a wide audience
for the developed tool support, resulting in a useful, reliable,
and easy-to-use tool for utilities. Case studies were conducted
with actual data from utilities to evaluate the performance of the
developed software application, which provided promising re-
sults. In addition, the results show the importance of including
the analysis of the subtransmission systems in the distribution
networks’ reconfiguration process.
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Vinícius Jacques Garcia was born in Santo Ângelo,
Brazil, on April 1, 1976. He received the Dr.Eng. de-
gree in electrical engineering from the State Univer-
sity of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil, in 2005.
He has been a Professor of Computer and
Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of
Pampa, Pampa, Brazil, since 2006. His research
interests include distribution system analysis, plan-
ning, operation, and combinatorial optimization.
Adriana Scheffer Quintela Ferreira was born
in Volta Redonda, Brazil, on June 24, 1975. She
received the Dr.Eng. degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil,
in 2006.
She has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering
at the Federal University of Pampa, Pampa, Brazil,
since 2008. Her research interests include transmis-
sion system analysis, planning, and operation.
Luciane Neves Canha was born in Santa Maria,
Santa Maria, Brazil, on March 16, 1971. She re-
ceived the Dr.Eng. degree in electrical engineering
from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa
Maria, in 2004.
She has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering
at the Federal University of Santa Maria since 1997.
Her research interests include distribution system
analysis, planning and operation, distributed gener-
ation, and renewable energy.

Daniel Pinheiro Bernardon (M’08) was born in

Santa Maria, Brazil, on September 15, 1977. He
received the Dr.Eng. degree in electrical engineering
from the Federal University of Santa Maria in 2007
He has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering
at the Federal University of Pampa, Pampa, Brazil,
since 2008. His research interests include distribution
system analysis, planning and operation, in addition
to working for eight years in the operation of electric
systems.