Improving the Search Ability of Tabu Search in the Distribution Network Reconfiguration Problem

The distribution network reconfiguration problem is to decide whether each sectionalizing switch is to be open or closed in order to maintain or improve electrical power supply reliability, power quality and network operation efficiency. Obtaining the optimal network configuration is, however, extremely difficult because the network reconfiguration problem is actually a large-size combinatorial optimization problem. Many optimization algorithms have thus been applied to the reconfiguration problem to support power utility’s decision-making. This paper proposes a local search-based solution for the reconfiguration problem in which tabu search – one of the most widely used local search-based metaheuristics – is employed to solve the problem. Tabu search is improved by introducing an effective search strategy that utilizes the properties of this kind of problems. Numerical simulations are performed on a complex actual-scale distribution network model in order to verify the validity of the proposed solution.