Optimization of the reactive power injection to control voltage profile by using artificial bee colony algorithm

The increasing demand for electric power requires the power system utility to continuously adapt the network system, both on the transmission line and the distribution systems. It may cause a voltage drop and other impact related to power losses because of the limited availability of reactive power source in the system. Therefore, implementation of compensation devices such as capacitor bank, Static VAR Compensator (SVC), and other Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices to inject reactive power to the network are needed. The optimum location and size of the compensation device must be determined appropriately. This paper presents two optimization approaches, including both deterministic and nondeterministic methods. Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is applied to acquire the most optimum size and location of SVC. It is an optimization method using metaheuristic techniques which have been developed based on the intelligent behavior of honey bee. The IEEE standard 30-bus system data has been used to determine the performance of the ABC algorithm to control the voltage profile and power losses. Comparison of the voltage profile and power losses without and with an injection of SVC of the power system has been determined by using the ABC algorithm optimization method. Based on the analysis results, it was known that the SVC optimization could boost the voltage profile at all buses under consideration to the value higher than its minimum allowed voltage. Besides, the power losses condition has also been improved, with 35.36% active power improvement and 40.90% reactive power improvement subsequently.