Optimal Phase Balancing Planning for Loss Reduction in Distribution Systems using a Specialized Genetic Algorithm

unbalanced operation of distribution systems deteriorates power quality and increases investment and operation costs. feeder reconfiguration and phase swapping are the two main approaches for load balancing, being the former more difficult to execute due to the reduced number of sectionalizing switches available in most distribution systems. on the other hand, phase swapping constitutes a direct, effective and low cost alternative for load balancing. the main contribution of this paper is the proposal of an optimization model and a solution technique for phase balancing planning in distribution systems. as regards the optimization model, a mixed integer nonlinear programming formulation is proposed. on the other hand, the proposed solution technique consists on a specialized genetic algorithm. to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, several tests are carried out with two distribution systems of 37 and 19 buses, this last one with different load models. results showed that in addition to the achievement of the primary objective of loss reduction, phase balancing allows obtaining other technical benefits such as improvement of voltage profile and alleviation of congested lines.