Optimal conductor selection and capacitor placement for loss reduction of radial distribution systems by selective particle swarm optimization

This paper proposes a selective particle swarm optimization (SPSO) to select optimal capacitor placement and conductor sizing for maximum loss reduction and voltage profile improvement. The problem is posed as an optimization problem with an objective to minimize the total cost of power losses, fixed capacitors and branch conductors. The optimization procedure is subject to some technical constraints, which are voltage limit and maximum permissible carrying current of conductor's size. The proposed algorithm have been implemented and tested on a 27-bus power system.

I. Introduction

Power delivery from electric power plants to ultimate consumers is always accompanied of power losses. Fig. 1 shows the percentage losses in electrical networks of large-scale countries [1]. Power losses in conductors are directly proportionally to the branch current and resistance. The branch current can be separated to active and reactive component, where the losses produced by reactive current can be reduced by the installation of shunt capacitors. On the other hand the power losses can be reduced by decreasing the brunch resistance Figure 1. Power losses in electrical networks of different countries (2006 generalized data).