Satin bowerbird algorithm with an adaptive constriction factor for enhanced photovoltaic integration in distribution feeders

—This paper introduces an enhanced Satin bowerbird optimizer (SBO), specifically tailored for the integration of photovoltaic distributed generation (DG) units into radial distribution systems. The upgraded SBO version involves two pivotal adjustments. Firstly, the positional updating mechanism of the newly generated bower is modified to enable exploration around the iteration's elite bower. Secondly, an adaptive constriction factor is introduced, progressively decreasing during iterations to concentrate the search in promising areas. These modifications significantly amplify the exploration capacity of each new bower in the SBO algorithm. The proposed upgraded SBO aims at minimizing costs related to CO₂ emissions from the grid and those linked with photovoltaic units, in addition to energy losses. The variability of photovoltaic DG units is represented using the Beta Probability Density Function (PDF) to portray distinct solar irradiation conditions experienced daily. The enhanced SBO version undergoes testing on a practical Nigerian distribution system, the Ajinde 62-bus network, and a standard IEEE 69 nodes system. Simulation results underscore the effectiveness of the upgraded SBO version, revealing substantial reductions in energy losses and emissions. Specifically, for the Ajinde 62-bus network, the proposed SBO version achieves a noteworthy 31 % reduction in the combined yearly costs of energy losses and emissions compared to the initial case. Additionally, for the IEEE 69-bus system, it attains a considerable reduction of 35 %. Furthermore, the simulation results illustrate the competitive performance of the suggested SBO version when compared to Differential Evolution (DE) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms, as well as the standard SBO.