Optimal Location of Capacitive Units in Radial Distribution Networks Aiming to Reduce System Losses Using the Exchange Market Algorithm

Abstract

Distributed generation (DG) has been a significantly popular approach in recent years due to its sought effects. However, DG tends to intensify the harmonic distortion level. In the case of implanting shunt capacitors, disregarding harmonies lead to increased harmonic pollution as a result of intensifying the imposition between the inductive elements of the power system and the shunt capacitors. The present study aims to develop a new minimization method for power loss in systems that are exposed to inequality or equality constraints by optimizing a long term schedule for radial distribution of capacitor banks. We specified the best locations for the installation of capacitor banks via the Voltage Stability Index (VSI) and the new integrated approach of Loss Sensitivity Factor (LSF). Furthermore, we detected the optimum size of the capacitor via the Exchange Market Algorithm (EMA). To examine the proposed method, we used 34-bus and 85-bus networks considering load variations via 1% step sizes in the range of light load (50%) to peak load (160%) while monitoring the optimization process during the entire period of testing. The comparison of the obtained results with the particle swarm optimization (PSO), Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO), and Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA) revealed improvement of the voltage profile together with a remarkable reduction in active power loss.