Minimization of Energy Losses in Electric Power Distribution Systems by Intelligent Search Strategies

Energy is continuously dissipated in electric power systems due to electrical resistance in transmission and distribution lines. This paper addresses the problem of obtaining a network topology with minimum energy losses for electric power distribution systems. As distribution networks must operate radially, the problem can be formulated as a generalization of the minimum spanning tree problem. The generalization is due to variation in costs as network configuration changes. Nonlinear network flow techniques are teamed with search strategies borrowed from the field of artificial intelligence to overcome computation intractability.