Proceedings of the 14th International Middle East Power Systems Conference (MEPCON10), Cairo University, Egypt, December 19-21,

2010, Paper ID 296.

Optimal Location of Remote Terminal Units in

Distribution System Using Genetic Algorithm
A.A.E. Shammah

A. Abou El-Ela

Ahmed M. Azmy

South Delta Electricity Distribution

Company SDEDC
berosat@yahoo.com

Faculty of Engineering, Minoufiya

University
draaa50@hotmail.com

Faculty of Engineering, Tanta

University
Azmy.ahmed@hotmail.com

When a fault occurs on a feeder, the faulted section has to

be identified and isolated [4]. The isolated sections will have
to be fed from alternative feeders until the faulty branch is
repaired. From the optimization point of view, the time period
of isolating any section has to be minimized. The
minimization process depends on the structure of the
distribution system and the capability of detecting and solving
the problem. In addition, the possibility of providing
alternative feeding can help in minimizing the interruption
period.
In South Delta Electricity Distribution Company (SDEDC)
a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA)
is built based on Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) for customerside Distribution Automation System (DAS) [5]. It is to apply
automation technique for operating and controlling low
voltage (LV) downstream [6], [7]. The developed SCADA
system provides fault isolation operation, monitoring and
controlling functions for the operators and data collection for
future analysis [7]. An embedded Ethernet controller is used
as RTU to act as converter for Human Machine Interface
(HMI) and to interact with digital input and output modules
[7], [8]. RTU represents the master and digital input and
output modules are the slaves. RTU will initiate the
transaction with the digital input and output modules. These
(RTUs) collect fields of data and send them back to a master
station via a communications system [9]. The RTU provides
an interface to the field analog and digital sensors situated at
each remote site. The master station displays the acquired data
and also allows the operator to perform remote control tasks.
So, the RTU interfaces with the real-world devices, it is
usually considered as the eyes, ears, and hands of the master
station [10-12]. The inclusion of a microprocessor in the RTU
enables off-loading the communication channel and the master
station computer. This is accomplished by performing some of
the further processing steps previously done by the master
computer. In this way, overall product cost can be reduced,
flexibility can be improved and performance can be enhanced
[13].
A proposed method is presented in [14] for Improving
reliability on electrical distribution system by considering
annual load curve changes and failure rate. To relocate feederswitches and pole-mounted RTUs in the main feeder, Genetic
Algorithm is used as an optimization tool to minimize the
outage cost of customers and utility providers as well as the
feeder device life-cycle cost. However, no technical
considerations are taken into account. The focus in [15-17] is

Abstract - The paper presents a proposed technique to

investigate the problem associated with the optimal location of
remote terminal units (RTUs) within distribution networks. The
RTUs enable monitoring different locations, which are linked to
the central control room (CCR) through a communication
system. The multi-population real-coded Genetic Algorithm (GA)
is used as an optimization technique to select the optimal
locations of RTUs. The objective function in the optimization
technique is to minimize the total cost including the capital costs
and the running cost. The capital costs of RTUs represent
installing and relocating RTUs. The optimal location of the RTUs
is based on the load type, load capacity, level of voltage drop and
failure rate. A part of the Egyptian distribution network is used
as a real test system to show the validity, capability and efficiency
of the proposed technique.
Index Terms - Distribution system, Genetic Algorithm,
Optimization, Remote Terminal Units

I.

INTRODUCTION

Operation of distribution systems involves a long list of

optimization problems, such as: network expansion at
minimum cost and network reconfiguration. This can be
accomplished keeping in mind certain objective functions
(e.g., feeder and/or substation balancing, loss reduction,
voltage-profile improvement, etc) [1].
When practically dealing with those optimization problems,
it is important to recognize that distribution networks operate
in a radial configuration although they are structurally
meshed. The optimal operation of distribution networks are
achieved regarding one of the well known criteria. This can
involve: the minimization of network losses [2], the
minimization of voltage deviations at the customer loading
points and the maximization of the system reliability [1].
Network reconfiguration is the process of altering the
topological structures of distribution feeders by changing the
states of the sectionalizing and tie switches under both normal
and abnormal operating conditions [3]. During normal
operating conditions, networks are reconfigured to reduce the
system real power losses, relieve loads in the network and
increase network reliability.
The medium voltage distribution system inside cities is
designed as loops. These loops are normally opened at normal
operating conditions. The points of opening the loops are
determined by the operation and control groups in the
electricity distribution companies.

847

m is the number of RTUs,

n is the number of sections,
j is the number of RTUs that are initially installed and have to
be relocated to new positions for economic reasons, and
RIC is the average cost of the relocation process.

on the interruption cost and/or lifecycle cost of the distribution

system in [15], without considering outage cost and life-cycle
cost of large size systems and load curve of distribution
system. To carry out this task, modern optimization
techniques such as genetic algorithm should be applied. A
new remote terminal unit (RTU) placement algorithm is
presented in [18]. The objective of this algorithm is to place a
minimum set of RTUs, which satisfies three important
constraints of the problem; observability, absence of critical
measurements, and reliability requirements defined in terms of
RTU loss.
This paper presents an effective technique to find the
optimal location of Remote Terminal Units RTUs in a ring
distribution system. The multi-population real-coded Genetic
Algorithm (GA) is a selected technique to carry out this
optimization approach. The objective function includes the
capital cost of RTUs and the running cost which is divided
into customer cost and utility cost. The importance of certain
nodes is considered in the optimization process since they
represent special significance for the utility and/or the
customer. A main point is to test the introduced approach on a
real distribution system. Therefore, the technique is
implemented on the 11kv distribution network in Tanta city as
a part of the Egyptian distribution network. The results ensure
the capability of the proposed approach to minimize the
objective function as much as possible.

In the cost function of Equ.(1), three terms can be

recognized. The first term " ( IC i + UC i ) " represents the total
outage cost including the customer and utility cost. The
second term " m * R C " is the total cost of new RTUs to be
installed and the last term " j * R IC " is the total cost of
relocating RTUs.
A. Customer outage cost due to a fault at section i
This cost is the summations of customer outage cost in
every section due to a fault at section i". Each section has its
outage cost depending on its amount of load, proportion of
load types, and corresponding outage durations.
(2)
ICi = Fri (Ci 1 L1 + Ci 2 L2 + Ci 3 L3 + ..... + Cij L j )
Where:
Fri is the outage rate of section i (Failure/year),
C ij is the customer outage cost in every section due to a

fault at section i, and

L j is the amount of load at each section.

II. PROBLEM FORMULATION

The following basic assumptions are used in formulation of
the objective function.
The main feeder has various types of customers. There are
four types of customers: residential, commercial,
industrial and important-place customers such as hospitals,
government etc.
The known information of each load point is the type of
customer, permanent failure rate (FR), mean repair time,
and the connected KVA.
The length of each section is known and given in meters

( IC i + UC i ) + m * R C + j * R IC

i,
Re i is the load percentage of residential customers,
Imi is the load percentage of very important places,
Ini is the load percentage of industrial customers,

The research aims to minimize the total cost of the system

including the capital cost and the running cost. The capital
cost installation cost represents the locating and relocating
of the RTUs including life cycle cost of RTUs that are
installed on the main feeder. The running cost includes the
summation of customer and electrical power utilities outage
cost. The outage cost is related to all possible faults at each
section for different possibilities of RTUs existence.
For a fault at section i, the objective is to minimize the
following function:
n

Where:

OD is the outage duration of section j due to a fault in section

Coi is the load percentage of commercial customers,

III. OBJECTIVE FUNCTION

min T otal Cost =

B. Customer cost multiplier of load at section j due to a fault

at section i
Customer cost multiplier is the cost per kilowatt hour:
Cij = OD * ((Tre * Rei + Tim * Imi ) + Tco * Coi + Tin * Ini ) (3)

Tre is the average cost damage of residential customer per

kWh,
Tim is the average cost damage of important customer per
kWh,
Tco is the average cost damage of commercial customer per
kWh, and
Tin is the average cost damage of industrial customer per kWh

C. Customer outage cost due to a fault at section i

The cost is the summations of utility outage cost of every
section due to a fault at section i:
(4)
UCi = Fri Bi1L1 + Bi 2 L2 + ... + Bij L j

(1)

i =1

Where:
IC i is the customer outage cost due to outage in section i,

Where, B ij is the utility cost multiplier of section j due to a

UC i is the utility outage cost due to outage in section i,

fault at section i.

848

since the decision is either 1 for connected RTU or 0 for

absence of RTU.

D. Utility cost multiplier of load at section j due to a fault at

section i
Utility cost multiplier is the cost per kilowatt (LE/kW)
that depends on amount of outage duration and price of
electricity at time t.
Bij = OD * (C re (Re i + Tim * Imi ) + Coi Cco + Ini Cin ) (5)

A. Evolution process
The GA searches for the global optimum value of the
objective function through a search space, which is called
population. The size of the initial population is varied by the
size of the feeder system. The population is constituted from a
number of possible solutions known as individuals, where
each individual is also called chromosome. In this
mathematical analysis, a set of chromosomes is randomly
generated as initial population. The performance of each
individual is evaluated by calculating the total cost. The
individuals are then ranked depending on their corresponding
costs and a suitable fitness value is assigned to each one. The
fitness values are calculated depending on the position of the
individuals within the population rather than their distinct
performance. Fitness values between maximum and minimum
limits are calculated with fixed incremental steps and assigned
to the ranked individuals.
The main implementation steps of the GA-based
optimization are summarized in the flowchart shown in Fig 1.

Where:
Cre is the average sale price of residential customer per kWh.
Cco is the average sale price of commercial customer per
kWh.
Cin is the average sale price of industrial customer per kWh

E. The duration of service interruption of section j due to a

fault at section i
The service duration of each section depends on amount of
load in this section, number of sections, position of sections,
and amount of load that can be transferred. It should be noted
that the location can be classified into three positions: near an
original source, near an alternate source, or neither.
,i = j
T f +T r

T
+
T
,
i
>
j
,
L
>
L
k T
r
f

k =j
ODij =
(6)

, i > j , Lk LT
T f +Ts
k =j

,
i
j
<
f

Where:
Tf is the amount of time for finding a faulty location and
isolating it (hours).
T r is the amount of time for repairing a fault (hours).

Start
Initialize chromosome population
Calculate the cost of each member
Evaluate fitness of each individual and perform fitness scaling
Parent chromosomes selection
Create a new offspring (Crossover& Mutation)

is the amount of time for switching to an alternate source

without preparation (hours).
L k is the amount of load at section k.
Ts

Evaluate offspring and insert the best replacing worst parents

Yes
Number
of generations
between migrations
is reached?

is the amount of load that can be transferred to other

feeder
LT

IV.

MULTI-POPULATION REAL- CODED GENETIC ALGORITHM

The Genetic Algorithm GA is a stochastic optimization

technique and a probabilistic intelligent search algorithm that
uses the biological paradigm of evolution to resolve very
large problems searching a population of points in parallel.
Basically, GA differs from other traditional optimization
methods in three significant points. It searches a population of
points in parallel, it uses probabilistic rules rather than
deterministic ones, and it can process an encoding set of
parameters. It has a concept where good chromosome has a
better potential of being carried to the next generation than the
bad chromosome. It uses mathematical principle to indicate
which chromosome is better or worse than the others. The
ability of GA in finding good solutions often depends on
properly customizing the encoding, breeding operators and
fitness measures. The Integer coding is used in this research

Migrate
individuals
between
subpopulations

No
No

Maximum
number of
generation is
reached?
Yes
Stop

Fig. 1 Flowchart of the GA evolution process

B. Genetic Algorithm (GA) Parameters

In this research, the GA technique is applied to optimize the
location of RTUs within a ring feeder. Table 1 summarizes the
parameters of the GA- based optimization process.

849

TABLE I
PARAMETERS USED IN THE GA-BASED OPTIMIZATION PROCESS
Number of subpopulations

20

Number of individuals per subpopulation

Total population size
Generation gap
Insertion rate

60
200
0.8
0.8

Crossover rate

0.8

Mutation rate

0.02

Maximum no. of generations

100

Migration rate between subpopulations

0.2

Number of generations between migration

10

Therefore, Table 3 shows the results of the proposed

technique considering the customer interruption cost. There is
a significant reduction in the overall cost, i.e. 30.5%, using the
proposed optimization technique compared to the initial
location of RTUs. Furthermore, the number of RTUs is
increased compared to the initial situation to reduce the
damage cost related to customer.

V. CASE STUDY
A part of the Egyptian distribution network is used as a
real distribution test system to show the capability of the
proposed technique to improve the feeder performance
through optimally sitting of the RTUs. There are 28 points
that are considered for placing RTUs. Therefore, 28 unknown
variables are associated with each individual in the GA. A
ring distribution system is assumed, which is divided into two
radial feeders where each feeder has many sections and each
section has a lumped load center as shown in Fig. 2.
Table 2 shows the results when the optimization
technique is applied to the investigated network to express the
positions of RTUs. In addition, the suitable relocations of
RTUs on these feeders can be obtained. With reasonable
number of generations, the optimal locations in addition to the
total cost including utility cost can be obtained.
TABLE 2
OPTIMAL LOCATIONS OF RTUS USING GA
Bus.ID 2
Initial 0
Optimal 0

4
0
1

6
0
0

8
0
0

10
0
0

12
0
0

14
1
0

16
0
1

18
0
0

20
0
0

22
0
0

Bus.ID 24
Initial 1
Optimal 0

26
0
0

28
0
0

30
0
0

32
0
0

34
0
0

36
0
0

38
0
0

40
1
1

42
0
0

44
0
0

Bus.ID 46
Initial 0
Optimal 0

48
0
0

50
1
0

53
0
0

55
0
0

57
0
1

Cost function value (LE)

9380.9
7579.1

From Table 2, it is clear that the number of RTUs, using

the proposed optimization technique, is the same compared to
the initial situation. However, three RTUs have been
relocated, while the total cost is minimized compared to the
initial situation. The total cost for the initial condition is about
9380.9LE while that for the optimal solution is about
7579.1LE. This means that the proposed optimization
technique is about 20% lower than the initial total cost.
It is important to notice that the customer cost damage is
not considered in this stage since the locations of RTUs are
defined based on the experience neglecting this damage. Thus,
the same damage cost is omitted for comparison reasons.
However, due to the significant impact on the customer, the
damage cost related to customer has to be considered.

Fig. 2 A single line diagram for the investigated network

There are many technical factors that affect the decision

for the optimal locations of the RTUs. The main factors
include the node-voltage level and load importance (e.g. large

850

hospitals and government). Importance nodes are assigned

especial importance in the optimization process. In addition,
the positions of the loop-open switch and sections, which has
the highest failure rate are considered as important nodes
based on the experience of the operators. Importance weights
are defined for each important load center to differentiate
between their importances. These factors are included to
develop realistic results that achieve most possible benefits of
the optimization process.

From Table 4, it is clear that the voltage is lower than the

permissible 95% level at six buses: from B24 to B34, which
has to be improved. Therefore, there is a significant
importance for observing such nodes, which may cause
voltage collapse in the system.

TABLE 3
OPTIMAL LOCATIONS OF RTUS USING GA CONSIDERING THE CUSTOMER
INTERRUPTION COST
Bus.ID 2
4
6
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Initial 0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Optimal 0
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Bus.ID 24
Initial 1
Optimal 0

26
0
0

28
0
0

30
0
0

32
0
1

34
0
0

Bus.ID 46
Initial 0
Optimal 0

48
0
0

50
1
1

53
0
0

55
0
1

36
0
0

57
0
1

38
0
1

40
1
1

42
0
0

44
0
0

Cost function value (LE)

27078
18806

Fig 3 Voltage profile for the first feeder at the left hand side of test system

The investigated network has been simulated by the ETAP

package to carry out the power flow study. To define all
voltage levels in the network, a power flow calculation has to
be performed on the network, where some results are
tabulated as shown in Table 4.
TABLE 4
LOAD FLOW RESULTS FOR BUSES
Bus
ID

Voltage
(kv)

kw
Loading

kvar
loading

B1
B2
B4
B6
B8
B10
B12
B14
B16
B18
B20
B22
B24
B26
B28
B30
B32
B34
B36
B38
B40
B42
B44
B46
B48
B50
B53
B55
B57

10.516
10.507
10.505
10.499
10.495
10.491
10.489
10.483
10.481
10.48
10.479
10.479
10.439
10.439
10.442
10.442
10.442
10.443
10.452
10.456
10.459
10.463
10.467
10.47
10.471
10.484
10.486
10.49
10.503

2875
1100
1058
899
770
668
598
546
380
210
94.586
34.423
34.25
113
139
184
316
346
434
550
716
827
953
1086
1212
1434
1452
1640
1772

1814
695
669
568
486
423
378
345
240
132
59.368
21.518
21.734
71.734
87.911
116
199
218
273
347
452
521
602
685
765
904
915
1035
1118

Amp
loading
(A)
186.6
71.49
68.79
58.45
50.09
43.5
38.93
35.56
24.77
13.64
6.153
2.237
2.243
7.418
9.094
12
20.67
22.63
28.33
35.92
46.77
53.93
62.18
70.82
79.02
93.37
94.51
106.7
115.1

Cable
Length
(m)
270
70
210
200
200
80
380
170
150
420
50
650
30
650
50
100
100
850
250
200
200
170
100
40
350
40
100
270
240

Fig 4 Voltage profile for the second feeder at the right hand side of test system

According to the voltage profile, the low-bus voltages are

identified and considered to improve their voltages. Then, the
load flow results are obtained as technical factors.
Table 5 shows the location of RTUs using the optimal
proposed technique taking these factors into account
compared to the initial situation.
TABLE 5
OPTIMAL LOCATIONS OF RTUS USING GA TAKING TECHNICAL ASPECTS INTO
ACCOUNT
Bus.ID 2
4
6
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Initial 0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Optimal 1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0

851

Bus.ID 24
Initial 1
Optimal 1

26
0
1

28
0
0

30
0
0

32
0
1

Bus.ID 46
Initial 0
Optimal 0

48
0
0

50
1
1

53
0
0

55
0
1

34
0
0
57
0
1

36
0
0

38
0
1

40
1
1

42
0
0

44
0
0

Cost function value (LE)

27078
20795

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From Table 5, the overall cost is increased due to the

increase of the RTUs number when the importance of some
nodes is considered. However, this result is acceptable to
ensure fast restoration after any fault for the system. Although
the initial situation does not account for these technical
aspects, the optimal solution still provides more economical
solution with a total cost that is 23% lower than the initial one.
From Tables 3 and 5, it is found that the proposed
optimization technique recommends a logic solution. The
solution recommends installing additional RTUs at nodes 24,
26 and 32, which also have the most voltage drop in the
network.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In order to enhance the distribution system service
reliability, this paper presents a capable optimal proposed
technique to relocate the RTUs using the GA. The GA has
been efficiently applied as an optimization technique to
minimize the overall cost, considering different technical
factors. The overall cost includes the capital cost of RTUs and
the running cost of the customer and utility costs. The optimal
location of RTUs has been obtained in order to minimize the
total costs of the system compared to the initial situation of
RTUs with and without considering the customer interruption
cost. The power flow calculations have been performed using
the ETAP package. An additional numbers of RTUS have
been suggested to ensure fast restoration after any fault for the
system. The proposed technique has been applied on a real
part of the Egyptian network. The main technical factors
include the node-voltage level, in addition to important loads,
the positions of the loop-open switch and sections with higher
failure rate. The obtained results can be used to minimize total
life cycle costs of RTUs with optimal locations and give
guidance to take into account the effect of technical aspects in
network management such as in the voltage control process.
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