Optimal Placement of SVC for Minimizing Power

Loss and Improving Voltage Profile using GA

Shishir Dixit!', Laxmi Srivastava!

I', 1

Ganga Agnihotre

2Departrnent of Electrical Engineering

MANIT,Bhopal
India
2ganga1949@gmail.com

Department of Electrical Engineering

MITS,Gwalior
India
1*shishir,dixitl@gmail.com
1srivastaval@hotmail.com

Abstract- Various problems occurring in the operation of

emerging restructured power system networks can be solved up
to some extent by using flexible AC transmission system (FACTS)
devices. In the planning stage of installation of these devices, an
exhaustive exploration is a must to acquire maximum benefit of
these devices as these devices require huge capital investment. In
this paper, Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been applied to find the
optimal location of Static Var Compensator (SVC) so that, real
power

loss,

voltage

deviation

and

rating

of

SVC

may

be

minimized considering the most critical contingencies. As a first

step, contingency ranking has been performed to determine the
most severe line outages by evaluating voltage performance index
(VPI). Thereafter, GA has been applied to find the optimal
location and size of SVC. The effectiveness of the proposed
methodology is demonstrated on a standard IEEE 30-bus system.

Keywords-SVC, FACTS, Voltage Deviation, Real Power loss.

1.

INTRODUCTION

The improved system power flow control and increased

transmission capacity can be obtained using Flexible AC
transmission system (FACTS) [1]. FACTS devices are
basically power electronics based converters which are capable
to control various parameters' of pow er system networks in
electric transmission circuits to provide facility of better
control for both steady state power flow as well as dynamic
stability control. FACTs devices include thyristor controlled
series compensator (TCSC), static Var compensator (SVC),
static compensator (Statcom), unified power flow controller
(UPFC) etc. [2]. The commonly used shunt FACTS device in
power system networks is SVC due to its comparatively lower
cost as compared to its counterpart i.e. Statcom. SVCs work as
shunt-connected static Var generator or absorber whose output
can be adjusted to exchange capacitive or inductive current to
the system for voltage support. The installation of SVC at a
proper location, also results in reducing system power losses
significantly. In literature several methodologies and
approaches have been reported to find out the optimal location
of SVC in the power system network using different techniques
such as genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA),
artificial immune system (AIS) and particle swarm
optimization (PSO) [3,4]. The SA based approach is proposed
to determine the location, sizes and types of Var sources and
their settings at different loading conditions [5]. Considering
the operational constraints, the total cost i.e. purchase cost,
installation cost and cost of energy loss are minimized for the
overall life of the Var sources [5]. In [6], GA is has been

978-1-4799-2900-9/14/$31.00 2014

IEEE

employed for optimal placement of only one SVC within a

power system for reducing power loss, voltage deviation and
cost. AIS technique has been applied to place SVC optimally
for improving the system voltage profile and for minimizing
the total losses [7]. In [8], PSO based approach has been
applied for finding optimal locations of SVCs in the IEEE 30
bus systems. Harmony search (HS) algorithm has been used for
optimal placement of FACTS devices for improving power
system security [9], while in [10], a Novel Global Harmony
Search (NGHS) algorithm has been applied and compared with
HS algorithm and PSO for placement of SVC and Statcom to
enhance voltage stability,improve voltage profile,to minimize
power losses and total cost. NGHS algorithm provided better
accuracy and higher speed in fmding better solution as
compared to HS and PSO [10]. A n ew BIG BANG-BIG
CRUNCH (BB-BC) optimization algorithm was used for
finding optimal size of FACTS device for improvement of
voltage stability limit, voltage profile and loss minimization
under normal and line outage contingency conditions. The BB
BC algorithm required less number of operators similar to PSO.
The BB-BC algorithm provided better performance and good
convergence characteristics as compared to PSO.
This paper presents implementation of GA to search the
optimal location and sizing of SVC to minimize real power
loss,load bus voltage deviation and to reduce size of SVC. As
a first step, contingency ranking has been performed to
determine the most severe line outages by evaluating voltage
performance index (VPI). Thereafter, GA has been applied to
solve the mixed continuous-discrete optimization problem of
SVC placement. Effectiveness of the proposed GA based
method has been tested on IEEE 30-bus system.
II.

P ROBLEM FORMULATION

In this paper, single line outages are considered as

contingencies for optimal placement of SVC and the severity
of a contingency has been evaluated using Voltage Power
Index [17] has been used as:
VPI= If!l(L'1lVil/L'11 vtax 1)2m

(1)

where, L'1IVi I is absolute arithmetic difference between the

voltage magnitude under line outage and base case condition;
m
L'1IVi ax I is bus voltage magnitude selected by the utility
engineers to specify how much they think is permissible limit

123

for an outage case. In this paper,L'llvtax I has been considered

as 0.2 p.u. and the value of the exponent m has been taken as
2.
A.

Minimization of realpower loss

The real power loss (Pd as fIrst term of objective function

Fl (u, v) is defIned as:
(2)
Where,NTL and 9k are the total number of transmission lines
and conductance of J(h line; the voltages at the end buses of J(h
line are LOi and l-j LOj,respectively.
B.

Minimization of VoltageDeviations

The load voltage deviation (VD) as second term of

objective function F2(u, v) is defIned as:
(3)
where, NL represents total number of load buses. In this

1) Equality Constraints: The equality constraints represent

the typical load flow equations as follows:

for i = 1, .. . .. . . , NB

for i = 1, .. . .. . . , NB
where, NB represents total number of buses. PGi and QGi are
the generator real and reactive powers at bus i andj; PD i and
QDi are the active and reactive power load at bus i andj; Gij
and B ij are the transfer conductance and susceptance of the line
between bus i and bus j, respectively.
2) Inequality Constraints: Inequality constraints are the
upper and lower limits of reactive power of a generator. The
reactive power of j'h generator must lie within its minimum
(Q,;;in ) and maximum (Q,;;ax) limits. Mathematically, this
can be written as:

paper, V; f is taken as 1.0 p.u. In a power system, unless

specifIed, it is usual to maintain the load bus voltages within
5% of the nominal value.
In both objective functions FJ (u, v) and F2(u, v), u is the
vector of dependent variable consisting of load voltages (VL1 .
. . VLNL), generators' reactive powers (Q91 ..... Q9NG) and
transmission lines' loadings (SLl' . . . SLNTL ), and v is the
vector of independent variables consisting of generators'
voltages (Vyl ... VgNG)' transformers' tap settings (TJ ...T NT)
and reactive power injections (Qq . . . QCNC ).Therefore u and
v can be expressed as:
u= [VLl' . , VLNL; Q91' , . Q9NG; SLI ' , . SLNTL]
v= [Vyl .. . VgNG; T, ... TNT; Qq ... QCNJ
C.

(4)
(5)

Minimization of size of SVC

In addition to the minimization of PL and VD, the third

term F3(SVCSize) of objective function is for minimization of
SVC size.

F3(SVCSize)

Rating of SVC in p.u.

(6)

D. Objectivefimction
The objective function for the optimization problem can be
obtained by combining all the three objectives mentioned
above as:

Now, the optimization can be carried out by minimizing

the objective functionf (u, v), subject to various equality and
inequality constraints.

124

III.

1,2

... NG

(10)

GENETIC ALGORITHM

GA is one of the well accepted heuristic method and

effIcient tool for solving complex optimization problems. The
structure of these methods is based on systems which work
very closely to human reasoning; therefore it has been also
called as intelligent [13]. GA is global search technique which
is capable to search for several solutions at the same time
independent of prior knowledge or properties of solutions [1316]. The structure of GA basically includes three main steps:
selection,crossover (recombination) and mutation [14].

In this paper, the formulation of SVC is described with

some parameters including the location and size of the devices.
Each individual is represented by a string that depends upon
SVC parameter which is used for optimization. The fIrst value
of every string displays the location of SVC. It comprises the
number of load buses where SVC may be placed. The rest of
the values in the string indicate the possible sizing of device.
Initial population is produced from the number of possible
locations (i.e. load buses) for SVC placement NB, NR i.e. the
number of possible sizing for device and Ni nd i.e. the number
of individuals in the population. An individual can be
generated as follows: at f irst a s et of NB value according to
number of! oad buses in system is randomly chosen and
inserted at the fIrst location of each string. Thereafter,a set of
NR representing the size of the SVC are randomly chosen. The
whole initial population will be acquired when the mentioned
procedure is repeated for Nind times. The objective function is
calculated for each individual. Thus, the new generation will

2014 International Conference on Issues and Challenges in Intelligent Computing Techniques (ICICT)

be produced by the outcome that have already achieved by the

old generation.
In this paper,selection technique is based on roulette wheel
method [14]. The implementation of crossover method is done
to create a new individual from two of various individuals (i.e.
parent) by reorganizing them to create a better individual with
a probability PC which is near to 1. The intermediate
recombination is also applied in this paper [15].
All the above mentioned operators are used to produce the
offspring. The objective function (7) is computed for all of the
offspring and some of the best individuals out of them are
selected to create new generation. This process is used to
compare the best value of objective function and average
fitness of new generation; the earlier generation must be at the
same level or higher. The flowchart for GA is shown in Fig. 1.

IV. GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR OPTIMAL LOCATION

AND SIZE OF SVC
The computational steps used for execution of GA for
searching the optimal location and sizing of SVC are as
follows:
1. Run Newton Raphson (NR) power flow program to
compute VPI using (1), for all possible single line
outages contingencies.
2. Using value of VPI rank all single line outages
contingencies in order of their severity.
3. Implement GA to search optimal location and sizing of
SVC for minimization of real power loss, voltage
deviation and sizing of SVC, starting from the most
severe contingency with the highest value of VPI using
following steps.
a) Read system data and set parameters of GA.
Population size NL, the total number of load buses
in the test power system.
b) With the SVC at various locations,solve power flow
problem for each individuals.
c) Compute the fitness of objective function Fusing (7).
d) Solve the constrained optimization problem by
applying GA operators: selection, crossover and
mutation.
e) If number of generation (GEN) is less than the
maximum limit of generation (MAXGEN), repeat
steps b) -d),else stop.
=

Start

Read data, infonnation & limits

Initial population generated randomly

Arrange the location and sizing ofSVC

4. Place SVC of computed rating at the location obtained as

from step 3 and analyzes voltage profile, real power
losses,and load voltage deviation.
5. Comparing all results of the voltage profile, real power
loss and load voltage deviation find out the best optimal
size and location for SVC placement.
V.

GENGEN+I

No

End

Fig. I. Flowchart of GA Implementation.

SIMULATIONS RESULTS

The Genetic Algorithm has been implemented to search

optimal location and sizing of SVC in IEEE 30 bus system
[12]. This system has one slack bus,S PV buses,24 PQ buses
and 41 t ransmission lines. For optimal placement of SVC,
single line outages are considered as contingencies in the test
power system and to evaluate the severity of a contingency
VPI is used. It has been observed that NR load flow converges
for only for 37 line outages out of 41 I ine outages. The
objective function (7) is described as a mixed continuous
discrete optimization problem. The placement of SVC is
considered as a discreet decision variable. All the 24 PQ buses
(load buses) are considered as the possible optimal location for
SVC placement.
For some of the single line outage contingencies, the
voltage magnitude at some buses violated the permissible
voltage limit,as indicated by VPI in this paper. On the basis of
VPI, the ranking of critical contingencies was done as 36, 5,
15, 37, 38, and 25 and so on. In this paper, only first three

20J4Internationai Conference on Issues and Challenges in Intelligent Computing Techniques (ICICT)

125

most severe contingencies i.e. outage of line nos. 36,5,and 15

have been considered for SVC placement.
A.

Outage of line no.

27, 29 and 30 was below 0.95 p.u., which after placement of

SVC at bus no. 30 increased appreciably.
B.

36

The highest value of VPI was obtained for outage of line

no. 36 a s 0.1541, therefore, from the viewpoint of voltage
security it is the most severe line outage. Genetic Algorithm
was implemented for outage of line no. 36, with 1500
generations to determine the optimal location and sizing of
svc. The optimal location for SVC was found to be bus no.
30 with rating of -0.1104 p.u. Fig. 2 shows the convergence
characteristic of GA for outage of) ine no. 36, while Fig. 3
illustrates the voltage profile of the test system without and
with SVC at bus no. 30. It can be observed from Fig. 3 that
with line outage 36,the voltage magnitude at bus nos. 25,26,

--l

__________

Outage of line no.

The VPI is 0.0063 for second most severe contingency

which is outage of line no. 5. Fig. 4 illustrates the convergence
characteristic of the GA applied to find the optimal location
and size of SVC following the outage of line no. 5. In this
case,the optimal location for SVC was found to be bus no. 28
with rating of 0.0155 p.u. Fig. 5 depicts the voltage magnitude
at various buses without and with SVC at bus no. 28. The size
of SVC is smallest in this case. Though,this placement results
in the highest real power loss and unable to provide more
improvement in voltage magnitude of buses but still system is
secure from viewpoint of voltage security.

___________________________________________________________ _

Fig. 2. Convergence characteristic of GA for outage of line no. 36.

1.15

-W/OSVC
-WithSVCat bus no. 30

1.05
0.95

>
0.85

Bus

no.

10

I J

19

28

Fig. 3. Voltage profile for outage of line no. 36 without and with S VC at bus no. 30.
4,-----------------------__------------------------__-------------------------,

.5

-------------------------------------------------------------

lL

_ _ _ _ _ __

Fig. 4. Convergence characteristic of GA for outage of line no. 5.

126

2014International Conference on Issues and Challenges in Intelligent Computing Techniques (ICICT)

1.1
.W/OSVC

WithSVC

at bus no. 28

1.05
E

;.. 1

0.95
T

0.9

Bus

no.

--5

13

17

21

;---

29

25

Fig. 5. Voltage profile for outage of line no. 5 without and with SVC at bus no. 28.

C.

Outage of line no. 15:

illustrates the voltage profile of the test system without and

with SVC at bus no. 28.

The developed GA program is run for third most severe

contingency i.e. outage of line no. 15 having VPJ value as
0.0023. The optimal location for SVC was found to be bus no.
28 with rating of 0.1542 p.u. Fig. 6 shows the convergence
characteristic of GA for outage of! ine no. IS, while Fig. 7

Table I provides the summary of the results obtained for

base case, and outage of three most severe line outages. The
computed optimal location, size of SVC, real power loss and
voltage deviation are shown in Table 1.

-----L ________

--..... __________________________________________________ ""'--- __________

O---0
---5OO--1OOO--15 0
Fig. 6. Convergence characteristic of GA for outage of line no. 5.

1.1
W/OSVC

WithSVC

at bus no.28

1.05
E

;.. 1
0.95
Bus

no.

10

19

28

Fig. 7. Voltage profile for outage of line no. 15 without and with SVC at bus no. 28.

TABLE. I.

Line
Outage

Optimal
Location

Base case

L05

30
28
28

L036
L015

FOR BASE LOAD

Optimal
Size in p.u

-0.1104
0.0155
0.1542

Real Power
Loss in p.u
0.1803
0.1944
0.3243
0.2030

Voltage
Deviation in p.u
0.6001
0.6181
0.5172
0.2878

It is observed that there is no need of SVC placement for

base case. The optimal location and sizing of SVC computed
for outage of line no. 36 w orks in capacitive mode and
supplies reactive power to the system. The placement of SVC
at bus no. 30 only was found self-sufficient for maintaining
voltage security of the test power system when outage of these
three critical lines are considered one by one. Table II shows

2014 International Conference on Issues and Challenges in Intelligent Computing Techniques (ICICT)

127

voltage scenario of test power system without placement of

SVC whereas Table III represents voltage profile of the test
system when SVC of -0.1104 p.u. is placed at bus no. 30.
TABLE. II. VOLTAGE PROFILE WITHOUT SVC

Bus No.
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
II.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

Base Case
1.06
1.043
1.0215
1.0129
1.01
1.0121
1.0034
1.01
1.051
1.0444
1.082
1.0574
1.071
1.0424
1.0378
1.0447
1.0391
1.0279
1.0253
1.0293
1.0321
1.0327
1.0272
1.0216
1.0189
1.0012
1.0257
1.0107
1.0059
0.9945

VI.

L036
1.06
1.043
1.0201
1.0112
1.01
1.0115
1.0031
1.01
1.0461
1.0354
1.082
1.053
1.071
1.0353
1.027
1.0382
1.0309
1.0177
1.0154
1.0196
1.0182
1.0173
1.0045
0.9835
0.9246
0.9051
0.8999
1.0153
0.877
0.8637

LOS
1.06
1.043
1.0111
1.0012
0.9323
0.9993
0.9601
1.01
1.0437
1.036
1.082
1.0524
1.071
1.0371
1.0317
1.0381
1.0312
1.021
1.0178
1.0215
1.0237
1.0243
1.0202
1.0133
1.0093
0.9915
1.0155
1.0009
0.9955
0.9839

LO 15
1.06
1.043
1.0274
1.0199
1.01
1.0112
1.0029
1.01
1.0454
1.0362
1.082
1.0097
1.0419
0.997
1.0002
1.014
1.0242
1.0001
1.0035
1.0109
1.0225
1.0227
0.9984
1.0052
1.0124
0.9946
1.0254
1.0088
1.0056
0.9942

L036
1.06
1.043
1.0212
1.0125
1.01
1.0126
1.0038
1.01
1.0515
1.0459
1.082
1.0581
1.071
1.0429
1.0365
1.0457
1.0404
1.0277
1.0256
1.0298
1.0321
1.0322
1.0222
1.0122
0.9926
0.9745
0.9929
1.0161
0.9911
I

LOS
1.06
1.043
1.0123
1.0026
0.9342
1.001
0.9619
1.01
1.0461
1.0401
1.082
1.0546
1.071
1.0401
1.0355
1.0411
1.035
1.0249
1.0218
1.0256
1.029
1.03
1.0269
1.024
1.0335
1.0161
1.0479
1.0054
1.0464
1.0549

LO ]5
1.06
1.043
1.0284
1.0211
1.01
1.013
1.004
1.01
1.0491
1.0428
1.082
1.0188
1.0507
1.0064
1.0098
1.0221
1.0313
1.0088
1.0116
1.0186
1.0305
1.0311
1.0099
1.0191
1.0385
1.0212
1.0589
1.0134
1.0574
1.0658

No. 41-657!2012[SR] dated 26-07-2012 and the Director,

MITS Gwalior,India to carry out this work.
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CONCLUSION

In this paper, Genetic Algorithm has been successfully

implemented for searching optimal location and sizing of
SVC to minimize real power loss, load voltage deviation
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NO. 30

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