Hybrid CAC-DE in optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) for renewable energy cost reduction

Abstract

Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch (ORPD) is a vital component of voltage regulation in the energy sector, ensuring system reliability and economic viability within acceptable limits. In conventional energy systems, the ORPD has been frequently utilized in thermal energy generators. Renewable energy is becoming more essential in power generation systems, but integrating two or more sources with the grid may result in power quality issues. A power flow analysis in the power system is necessary to tackle this problem. To solve the ORPD problem, this paper developed a hybrid optimization technique known as Continuous Ant Colony-based Differential Evolution (CAC-DE). The goal of this research is to use IEEE 30-bus and 57-bus systems to solve a multi-objective ORPD problem. Fuzzy Logic (FL) is used in this optimization technique to find the Best Compromise Solution (BCS). The results demonstrate that the proposed system has better convergence properties and also can tackle the ORPD problem successfully. The efficiency of hybrid CAC-DE has been established by comparing its implementation to other optimization methodologies such as Multi-Objective Differential Evolution (MODE) and Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA 2). In hybrid CAC-DE, the power loss is decreased to 14.8452 MW, which is a 27 % and 39 % improvement over MODE and SPEA 2, respectively. Furthermore, the Voltage Stability Index (VSI) is kept below 1 in comparison to other approaches.