Evolutionary programming based optimization technique for maximum loadability estimation in electric power system

Maximum loadability is an important property to determine the point of voltage collapse in a power system. This can be done by conducting the voltage stability analysis (VSA) considering the variation in reactive power loading until a point closed the voltage stability limit is met. Nevertheless, the VSA technique is time consuming since gradual increase in reactive power loading has to be conducted with empirical process. This paper presents the evolutionary programming (EP) based optimization technique for estimating maximum loadability in electric power system. A predeveloped line-based voltage stability index was utilized as the fitness in the objective function, which has to be maximized for estimating the maximum loadability. Tests were conducted on IEEE Reliability Test System (RTS) and comparative studies were performed by comparing the results obtained from the VSA technique. Results from the study revealed that the proposed EP technique outperformed the VSA technique in terms of computation time, robustness and accuracy.