EVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMMING BASED OPTIMAL REACTIVE POWER PLANNING FOR VOLTAGE STABILITY IMPROVEMENT AND LOSS MINIMIZATION IN POWER SYSTEM

Abstract

This paper presents an application of evolutionary programming (EP) technique for optimizing the reactive power planning (RPP) for voltage stability improvement and loss minimization in power system. Two objective functions namely voltage stability improvement and loss minimization were implemented and compared. Three RPP techniques namely optimal reactive power dispatch (RPD), optimal transformer tap changer setting (TTCS) and optimal combination of RPD and TTCS were implemented using each objective function. The capabilities of each RPP technique in improving the voltage stability, minimizing total transmission loss, enhancement of voltage profiles and fast computation process were analysed. Results from each RPP technique were presented and comparative studies were included to find the most suitable technique, which satisfies the voltage stability improvement and loss minimization objectives. The RPP techniques were tested on the IEEE reliability test system (RTS).