Power-Loss-Minimization Through Optimum Photovoltaic Sizing and Placement Using Golden Section Search
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The integration of photovoltaic (PV) generation into distribution feeders is constrained by technical limits such as voltage rise, equipment overloading, and reverse power flow, which makes the determination of a suitable PV capacity and location essential. This paper presents a two-stage approach to obtain the loss-minimizing PV capacity and its preferred installation point in a 20 kV radial feeder. In the first stage, the maximum PV capacity that the feeder can accommodate without violating any operational limit, referred to as the hosting capacity, is determined for every candidate bus using a bisection search. In the second stage, the golden section search is applied within the interval bounded by zero and the hosting capacity to locate the PV capacity that yields the minimum network power loss. The power flow is solved with DIgSILENT PowerFactory, and the entire iterative procedure is automated through Python. The method is demonstrated on the Maduratex feeder supplied from the Gili Timur substation in the Madura system. The results show that the largest hosting capacity does not coincide with the lowest network loss: while the highest capacity is obtained at the substation outgoing point, the lowest network loss is achieved when the PV is placed at an interior bus. Reverse power flow is found to be the dominant limiting constraint across all buses. The proposed approach therefore offers a practical and computationally efficient basis for loss-aware PV planning in radial distribution networks.
Institution: Institut Teknologi PLN
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7225643245