Optimization for Onshore Wind Farm Cable: Connection Layout using ACO-AIA algorithm

Abstract

The wind farm layout optimization problem is similar to the classical mathematical problem of finding the Steiner Minimal Tree Problem (SMTP) of a weighted undirected graph. Due to the cable current-carrying capacity limitation, the cable sectional area should be carefully selected to meet the system operational requirement and this constraint should be considered during the SMTP formulation process. Hence, traditional SMTP algorithm cannot ensure a minimal cable investment layout. In this paper, a hybrid algorithm based on modified Ants Colony Optimization (ACO) and Artificial Immune Algorithm (AIA) for solving SMTP is introduced. Since the Steiner Tree Problem is NP-hard, we design an algorithm to construct high quality Steiner trees in a short time which is suitable for real time multicast routing in networks. After the breadth - first traversal of the minimal graph obtained by ACO, the terminal points are divided into different convex hull sets, and the full Steiner tree is structured from the convex hull sets partition. The Steiner points can then be vaccinated by AIA to get an optimal graph. The average optimization effect of AIA is shorter than the minimal graph obtained using ACO, and the performance of the algorithm is shown. We give an example of application in optimization for onshore wind farm Cable. The possibility of using different sectional area’s cable is also considered in this paper.