Low-voltage distribution system planning under load demand uncertainty: Growth rate with connection of new loads

This paper presents a novel algorithm to optimize a topology for tackling the challenge of increasing uncertainty on load demand (growth rate with connection of new loads) in low-voltage (LV) distribution. This paper aims at finding which load connection phase induces the lowest costs (investment and power losses) and phase balancing while satisfying the techno-economic aspects over planning study. A mixed integer quadratically constrained programming (MIQCP) and shortest path-bin packing with arborescence flow are developed to perform this work. To illustrate this method, the example of LV distribution (33 bus) is chosen to be a case study of an initial year. Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation method is employed to evaluate the results. The simulation results obtained on test system support an effectiveness of method.