Low voltage user phase reconfiguration as a planning problem

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kerckhove, Sari, Vanin, Marta, D'hulst, Reinhilde, Van Hertem, Dirk
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kerckhove, Sari
Vanin, Marta
D'hulst, Reinhilde
Van Hertem, Dirk
author_facet Kerckhove, Sari
Vanin, Marta
D'hulst, Reinhilde
Van Hertem, Dirk
contents Considerable levels of phase imbalance in low voltage (LV) distribution networks imply that grid assets are suboptimally utilized and can cause additional losses, equipment failure and degradation. With the ongoing energy transition, the installation of additional single-phase distributed energy resources may further increase the phase imbalance if no countermeasures are taken. Phase reconfiguration is a cost-effective solution to reduce imbalance. However, dynamic reconfiguration, through real-time phase swapping of loads using remotely controlled switches, is often impractical because these switches are too costly for widespread installation at LV users. Approaching phase reconfiguration as a planning problem, i.e. static reconfiguration, is an underaddressed but promising alternative. Effective static approaches that allow appropriate imbalance objectives are currently lacking. This paper presents reliable and expressive static phase reconfiguration methods that grid operators can easily integrate into routine maintenance for effective phase balancing. We present and compare three static methods, an exact mixed-integer nonlinear formulation (MINLP), a mixed-integer quadratic approximation (MIQP), and a genetic algorithm (GA), each supporting different imbalance objectives. The MIQP approach, despite using proxy objectives, efficiently mitigates the different types of imbalance considered, and outperforms both MINLP and GA in scalability and consistency.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_05910
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Low voltage user phase reconfiguration as a planning problem
Kerckhove, Sari
Vanin, Marta
D'hulst, Reinhilde
Van Hertem, Dirk
Systems and Control
Considerable levels of phase imbalance in low voltage (LV) distribution networks imply that grid assets are suboptimally utilized and can cause additional losses, equipment failure and degradation. With the ongoing energy transition, the installation of additional single-phase distributed energy resources may further increase the phase imbalance if no countermeasures are taken. Phase reconfiguration is a cost-effective solution to reduce imbalance. However, dynamic reconfiguration, through real-time phase swapping of loads using remotely controlled switches, is often impractical because these switches are too costly for widespread installation at LV users. Approaching phase reconfiguration as a planning problem, i.e. static reconfiguration, is an underaddressed but promising alternative. Effective static approaches that allow appropriate imbalance objectives are currently lacking. This paper presents reliable and expressive static phase reconfiguration methods that grid operators can easily integrate into routine maintenance for effective phase balancing. We present and compare three static methods, an exact mixed-integer nonlinear formulation (MINLP), a mixed-integer quadratic approximation (MIQP), and a genetic algorithm (GA), each supporting different imbalance objectives. The MIQP approach, despite using proxy objectives, efficiently mitigates the different types of imbalance considered, and outperforms both MINLP and GA in scalability and consistency.
title Low voltage user phase reconfiguration as a planning problem
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05910