Optimal Location of Series FACTS Device Using PSO Technique to Reduce the Losses and to Enhance Power Transfer Capability in a Power System

Abstract

Electric power systems, around the globe, are changing in terms of structure, operation, management, and ownership due to technical, financial, and ideological reasons. Recent trend involves augmentation of power systems in terms of geographical area, assets additions, and penetration of new technologies in generation, transmission, and distribution sectors. In this regard, flexible alternative current transmission system (FACTS) devices play a key role in enhancing controllability and increasing power transfer capability of the network. Thyristor-controlled series compensator (TCSC) is an emerging FACTS device designated to achieve this objective. The conventional methods in solving optimization problems in power systems suffer from several limitations due to necessities of derivative existence, providing suboptimal solutions, etc. Computational intelligence plays an important role in determining the optimal solutions for multiobjective functions. A combinatorial analysis problem in power systems can be solved by modern heuristic methods in finding optimal solution. Thus, in this paper, particle swarm optimization (PSO), a wing of evolutionary computation (EC) encapsulated with heuristic approach, has proposed for finding optimal location of TCSC. An IEEE standard 5-bus and 14-bus systems have been considered to test the credibility of the proposed algorithm. The simulation result proved the efficiency of the proposed approach by optimal placement of the FACTS device to minimize the losses and to improve the power transfer in a power system network.