Optimal active power flow incorporating FACTS devices with power flow control constraints

Abstract

An improved two-stage approach to solving the new formulation of optimal power flow (OPF) problem which incorporates flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices and power flow control constraints is presented. This approach is shown to provide an enhanced economic solution with the use of controllable FACTS devices. The FACTS devices considered include series compensators and phase shifters. The power flow constraints are specified line flows related to FACTS devices. The proposed approach decomposes the solution of such a modified OPF problem into two stages. The first stage is a power flow control problem and the second stage is a normal OPF problem. The two are solved iteratively until a stop criterion is reached. Numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.