Abstract
Increasing penetration of distributed generation (DG) is imminent in the new age of power distribution networks, which are smarter than the conventional grids. They enable the integration of DG into the power distribution network. This paper presents an assessment methodology for determining the optimal capacity and location of DG to ensure high reliability in a radial distribution network. The approach considers cost and the impact of aging on the DG and network topology for interconnection using genetic algorithm, which is a robust technique with wide solution space searchability and can potentially find global optima with fewer chances of getting trapped into local optima. A case study is simulated using three different scenarios to evaluate the impact of DG interconnection on the 13.8 kV power distribution network. The scenarios comprise of situations without any DG, with DG interconnection and optimization of DG interconnection. The case study shows that the penetration of DG increases the reliability of the distribution network while reducing the expected energy not supplied (EENS). Although, the difference between EENS in the optimized DG integration and non-optimized DG integration is not very significant in a small network, however, it becomes apparent with the aging curve that optimized allocation of DG possesses significant benefits.