Reliability Enhancement of a Distributed Energy System Considering Resource Variability Using Red Colobus Monkey Optimization Technique

Recently, distributed energy systems (DESs) are considered as viable power supply alternatives for meeting rising power demands resulting from various technological advancements and exponential population growth. Due to incessant network reliability issues, significant power losses, and deviations in voltage magnitude, it is imperative to assess network reliability in DESs for unusual operational conditions to attain an uninterrupted power supply. To this end, this paper presents a scheme for enhancement of the reliability of a DES comprising of a conventional power grid and renewable energy resources (RERs) under variations of stochastic weather conditions using red colobus monkey (RCM) optimization technique. The performance of the proposed RCM optimization technique is tested on IEEE 33 and IEEE 69 distribution networks under various scenarios of RES integration. The simulation outcomes demonstrate that the proposed scheme can significantly minimize power losses with about 84.66% and 83.56% improvement in active power as well as 87.49% and 83.23% reduction in reactive power losses under the scenarios of the IEEE 33 and IEEE 69 network systems, respectively. In addition, the set of reliability indices utilized for testing shows a significant improvement while simultaneously ensuring that the bus voltage magnitudes are kept within acceptable voltage limits in the considered scenarios. The simulation results provide a relevant pathway for evaluating network reliability and, ultimately, power supply reliability in DESs.