Abstract
Nowadays, response to electricity consumption growth is mainly supported by efficiency; therefore, this is the new main goal in the development of electric distribution networks, which must fully comply with the system’s constraints. In recent decades, the issue of independent reactive power services, including the optimal placement of capacitors in the grid due to the restructuring of the electricity industry and the creation of a competitive electricity market, has received attention from related companies. In this context, a genetic algorithm is proposed for optimal planning of capacitor banks. A case study derived from a real network, considering the application of suitable daily profiles for loads and generators, to obtain a better representation of the electrical conditions, is discussed in the present paper. The results confirmed that some placement solutions can be obtained with a good compromise between costs and benefits; the adopted benefits are energy losses and power factor infringements, taking into account the network technical limits. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for optimal placement and sizing of capacitor banks in distribution systems, with the definition of a suitable control pattern, have been proved.
Highlights
IntroductionRegulators have wanted to reduce energy costs and raise energy efficiency by curtailing energy losses and/or improving the power factor, in distribution networks
In recent years, regulators have wanted to reduce energy costs and raise energy efficiency by curtailing energy losses and/or improving the power factor, in distribution networks.According to the most recent regulations, efficiency is the main goal in distribution network planning, which must fully comply with the system’s constraints
Two types of optimization are performed on the case study: (a) Optimal capacitor bank placement without pattern control optimization: in this analysis, the banks are always connected to their nominal value without any control in the daily pattern
Summary
Regulators have wanted to reduce energy costs and raise energy efficiency by curtailing energy losses and/or improving the power factor, in distribution networks. The GA-based approach for power quality improvement along with the optimal capacitor placement and sizing of fixed-shunt capacitor banks in radial distribution networks in the presence of voltage and current harmonics is presented in [13]. A new approach for solving the radial distribution systems’ optimal shunt capacitors’ placement and sizing problem is proposed in [23], the approach modifies and partially uses conventional loss sensitivity factors to reduce the search space of optimal buses that require shunt capacitor placement. The work in [24] presents an improved method for loss reduction in medium voltage distribution networks, using an optimal placement of capacitor banks, with a recently proposed metaheuristic, the sperm whale algorithm.
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