Operation of Distribution Network with Distributed Generation in Floating Mode

This paper presents a framework for operation of the distribution network with distributed generation in floating mode. The term ‘floating mode’ is aimed at making the distribution network draw negligible power from the grid along with the reduction of power losses and improvement of voltage profile. Under floating mode operation, the distribution network remains connected with the grid to allow the grid to dictate the voltage and frequency. If load demand increases, the grid can supply the additional load power and if the load demand decreases, the excess power from the network will be fed back to the grid. This proposed approach is achieved in detail using dispatchable DGs operating at lagging power factor considering three load levels. Fuzzy max-min principle is used to find the optimal location of DGs. The optimization of the DG sizing is achieved using a combination of fuzzy maxmin technique with genetic algorithm. Effectiveness of the proposed methodology is presented through an example of a 60 node distribution network.