Economic analysis of HRES-based distributed generation for mitigation of power loss and voltage profile problem

Abstract Power loss, voltage deviation and reliability are the issues that are widely encountered in the power system operation of developing countries. The Eastern region of Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) is characterized by long transmission lines with no power generation units and large loads. Power loss and voltage profile deviations are experienced repeatedly in this region. The aim of this study is to present an extensive analysis of the role of Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources (HRES) used as Distributed Generation (DG) for power loss minimization, voltage profile and reliability improvement in EEP. The research work initially proves the superior performance of Manta Ray Foraging Optimization (MRFO) for the sizing and placement of DG. Optimal sizing and location of DG are then performed for the case study system using MRFO. The results indicate considerable power loss reduction and improvement in the voltage profile of the network. The reliability of the system is also improved by having an alternative energy source from RES. Wind and solar are considered as part of DG, the combination of which is then optimized through MRFO in the next part of the research. An economic feasibility analysis of the proposed result is also presented for this real-world problem. MATPOWER is used for executing the load flow whereas MATLAB programming is used for implementing MRFO. The result shows that the utility got economic benefits due to the introduction of DG to the network.