Enhancement of Hosting Capacity with Soft Open Points and Distribution System Reconfiguration: Multi-Objective Bilevel Stochastic Optimization

Soft open points (SOPs) are power electronic devices that replace the normal open points in active distribution systems. They provide resiliency in terms of transferring electrical power between adjacent feeders and delivering the benefits of meshed networks. In this work, a multi-objective bilevel optimization problem is formulated to maximize the hosting capacity (HC) of a real 59-node distribution system in Egypt and an 83-node distribution system in Taiwan, using distribution system reconfiguration (DSR) and SOP placement. Furthermore, the uncertainty in the load is considered to step on the real benefits of allocating SOPs along with DSR. The obtained results validate the effectiveness of DSR and SOP allocation in maximizing the HC of the studied distribution systems with low cost.