Optimal Capacitor Placement considering Voltage

Stability Margin based on improved PSO algorithm

Taegyun Kim
Korea University
Seoul, South Korea

Yunhwan Lee
Korea University
Seoul, South Korea

Byongjun Lee
Korea University
Seoul, South Korea

Hwachang Song
Seoul National
University of
Technology
Seoul, South Korea
Taekyun Kim
Korea Electric Power
Research Institute
Daejeon, South Korea

Abstract This paper presents the optimal capacitor placement
(OCP) algorithm for the voltage stability enhancement. The
problem of OCP is composed by the integer variables and highly
nonlinear equations. Generally, this problem can be solved by the
OPF algorithms, but the OPF has the defect to solve the problems
contained the integer variables and to find the global solution.
The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is the modern
heuristic optimization algorithm, so it is easy to treat integer
variables and to find the global solution. This paper presents the
method for OCP based on the PSO and the method to improve
the convergence and search speed of the PSO using the dual
variables obtained through the nonlinear interior point method.
This algorithm is tested by the NewEngland 39-buses test system.
Keywords- Optimal capacitor placement, PSO, optimal power
flow, optimal var planning, steady state voltage stability
I. INTRODUCTION
N the recent power system operation and planning, voltage
stability is one of the main concerns to maintain system
security. The var planning or capacitor placement problem is
one of the major issues for power systems planning. For
system security, the many types of equipment have to be
constructed, however, for the economical efficiency, the
constructed equipments are limited. So, it is very important
issue to find the optimal location and the amount of the
facilities. However, this is very difficult problem.
The optimal capacitor placement (OCP) problems contain the
integer variables because the each capacitor bank is integer
value. So this problem is mixed integer problem (MIP) and
highly nonlinear problem because the power systems are the
highly nonlinear systems. In the literature [2-5], these papers
suggest the optimal power flow algorithms using the interior
point method (IPM). These algorithms can be adjusted for
OCP problem. For the OCP problem, the benders
decomposition method [6] can be applied for the considering
contingencies and the heuristic algorithm [1] also can be
applied. However, these algorithms have the difficulty to solve
MIP and to find global solution. In the literature [7], the tabu
search is applied for the optimal var planning. The tabu search
is one of the local searches. This deal with the MIP well but it
do not always guarantee discovering the globally optimal
solution in finite time, they often provide a fast and reasonable
solution (suboptimal nearly global optimal).
The PSO is the modern heuristic algorithm developed by
Kennedy and Eberhart [8-9]. The advantages of PSO are ease
of implementation and only few parameters to adjust. This
method is easy to find the global solution and to deal with
integer variables. So, this is suitable for the OCP. However,
the PSO also has the disadvantages that it is so late and not
converges to only one solution always. The modified PSO
(MPSO) is applied to overcome the defect of PSO. MPSO is
hybrid algorithm that combines PSO with local search
techniques. So, it improves the probability to find the global
solution (the probability to converge to one solution always).
However, this is needed the more search time because the
local search is so late to search.
This paper presents the optimal capacitor placement
considering the voltage stability enhancement. The main
algorithm is composed by the interior point method (IPM) and
the particle swarm optimization (PSO). To calculate the
voltage stability margin, IPM is applied and through IPM
result, the dual variable is applied to the velocity of PSO. At
this time, the objective function of IPM is the maximum
loadability. To search the optimal location and amount, the
PSO is applied. The dual variables perform the function of
local search. This algorithm is very fast because the IPM is
very fast than the local search. At this time, the objective
function of PSO is the minimum capacitor placement.
II. FORMULATION AND SOLUTION PROCEDURE OF OCP
PROBLEM
The objective function of OCP is minimum capacitor
placement cost and the voltage stability margin has to be
guaranteed. The voltage stability assessment may be
calculated by continuation power flow method (CPF) or
optimal power flow (OPF). In this paper, the voltage stability
assessment is calculated by OPF based on IPM. Through OPF
result, the dual variable information is adjusted to the velocity
of PSO.
A. Formulation of OPF problem
The OPF module performs maximum loadability. Namely,
it searches the maximum transfer limit (PV margin) including
the shunt amount offered from PSO.
I
978-1-4244-5098-5/09/$26.00 2009 IEEE
The objective function is following.
= ) ( min x f (1)
Where corresponds to a scaling factor of the loads.
The constraints of the OPF include the network equation
and inequality constraints that contain operation limits,
physical limits, and the old/new SC/SR limits. The limits of
the inequality constraints are following.

1. Upper/lower limits of bus voltage
2. Upper/lower limits of reactive power generation
3. Upper/lower limits of old/new SC/SR capacity
4. Upper/lower limits of active power generation (only
slack bus)

All constraints exept SC/SR constraints are normally used
in optimal reactive power problems. The shunt capacitor
constraints include the new shunt capacitor amount which is
offered by PSO. The equality constrains are following.
0
0
2
= +
= +
i i Gi Li Ti
Gi Li Ti
V B Q Q Q
P P P

(2)
Where the subscripts G, L, and T indicate generation, load,
and injection respectively,
i
V and
i
B are voltage and old/new
shunt of bus i. The initial value of is 1. The objective
function (1) minimize (- ) so is maximized.
The IPM algorithm is applied to search solution. For IPM,
lagrange function is following.
u w l z g u x g w
g l x g z x h x f L
T T T
T T
+
=
) ) ( (
) ) ( ( ) ( ) ( ) (
max
min

(3)
Where, g h f , , are objective function (1), equality
constraints (2) and inequality constraints. w z, , are dual
variables and u l, are slack variables.
max min
, g g are
upper/lower limits of inequality constraints.
In (3), dual variables mean increamental cost which
means increamental value of objective function when load
increase. The following equation means concept of .
L
Q
L
P
Q
f
P
f

= , (4)
If the capacitor is allocated at bus i, it means that the
reactive load at bus i is decreased. Because the objective
function is maximum loadability, (-
Q
) represents the amount
of increased loadability according to allocated capacitor. If the
maximum loadability is less than desired margin, the capacitor
is allocated at the bus presents the largest (-
Q
). Similarity, if
the maximum loadability is greater than desired margin and
too many capacitors are allocated, the capacitor is not
allocated at the bus presents the lowest (-
Q
). So, the
Q
can
be applied to direction vector for the capacitor allocation
studies. However, the IPM algorithm performs to search of the
local optimal solution, so
Q
has to be applied for the local
optimal solution.
To calculate the maximum loadability, CPF or OPF has to
be performed. To search the local optimal solution, the local
search method has to be performed. However, local search
method is needed many search time. If we employ the OPF to
calculate the maximum loadability, we can obtain the
information of
Q
and this information can be applied to
search the local optimal solution as the form of direction
vector.

B. Formulation of PSO problem
The PSO is modern heuristic algorithm. It can search the
global solution and is easy to deal with integer variables. So,
the PSO is useful to the optimal capacitor placement problem.
However, it is not converged to the unique solution, namely,
the solution is different each time it running. So, to obtain
reasonable solution, we need to search the local optimal
solution. In this section, introduce the traditional PSO, and
then suggest the improved PSO algorithm.
The procedure of PSO is very simple.

1. Generate the particle
Each particle is generated by the random variables
2. Calculate the objective function
Decision of global best and each local best
3. Calculate the velocity of the each particles
4. Update the each particle
5. Go to step2 until all particles meet at the one solution

The procedure of the suggested algorithm is same with
ordinary PSO algorithm. Only the calculation method of the
velocity is different. For the OCP, the each particle contains
the information of the capacitor amount of the each location.
This amount is generated by the random variables. The
objective function for OCP is following.
set location candidate S
w ortherwise
value rge la w then rgin ma desired if
w B f
S
i
new
i

=
=
=

=
1 ,
,
) ( min
1

(5)
Where,
new
i
B is the allocated capacitor amount at the bus i,
is the voltage stability margin (PV margin), and wis the
weighting factor. The OCP considering voltage stability
margin (VSM) has to satisfy desired margin. So, if the VSM
dont satisfy the desired margin or the OPF is not converge
because of the lack of the allocated capacitor, the weighting
factor ( w) has to have very high cost.
After calculation of OBJ, the each particle updates the each
local best and the global solution is updated also. And then,
the velocity is calculated to update the each particle. The
equation of velocity is following.
s B
r C
P G r C P P r C v w v
size
average
Q
C des
average
Q
Q
C best C best
t t

+ + =

3 3
2 2 1 1
1
) ( ) (

(6)
Where, w is inertia weight.
3 2 1
, , r r r are random numbers
between 0 and 1.
best best
G P , are the local best and global best.
C
P is the current location of the each particle.
3 2 1
, , C C C are
positive constants called as the cognitive and social parameters
(acceleration parameters) respectively. This acceleration
factors are pull the solution towards
best
P and
best
G positions.
average
Q Q
, are the dual variable from the OPF and the average
value of dual variables.
C des
, are the desired VSM and the
VSM of the each particle.
size
B is the shunt capacitor amount
per one bank. s is the total number of the candidate location.
The suggested algorithm uses the dual variables from the
OPF result. In (4), it can be rewritten in following.
i L
Q
B Q
f

=

(7)

= s B
B
s B
size
i
size
average
Q
(8)
In (8), s B
size
average
Q
means when one shunt
capacitor bank is allocated at each and all location. So, in (6),
s B
size
average
Q
C des

means how much shunt capacitor banks are
needed at each and all location. And in (6),
average
Q
Q

is pull
the solution towards more sensitive buses, namely it performs
the function of the local search. So,
s B
size
average
Q
C des
average
Q
Q

is composed to direction vector to

allocate the more capacitor bank to the more sensitive buses.
In (6), w is inertia weight which helps to search the local
optimal solution. If the inertia weight is high, it is difficult to
converge to the one solution. So, the inertia weight has to be
high at the first iteration and it has to be low at the nearby
optimal solution. The inertia weight is following.
2 1
2 w w w + = (9)
) 10 , 10 (
20
10
1
=

= iter else iter

iter
w (10)

=
2 1 1
2
2
) (
) (
2
1
C best
iter
C
iter
best
P G
P G
w (11)
Where, iter is the iteration number which starts from
zero.
1
,
best
iter
best
G G are the global best of each iteration and first
iteration.
1
,
C
iter
C
P P are the location of particle of each
iteration and first iteration.
1
w is decreased at each iteration
but if global best is updated, iter is reset to zero.
2
w is
decreased as each particle move to global best. So, w is
changed from 1.5 to nearby zero.
From (6), the position of particle is updated.
1 1 + +
+ =
t t
C
t
C
v P P (12)

C. Solution procedure of OCP
The optimal capacitor placement has to consider the
contingency. The following flowchart shows the overall
procedure.


Fig. 1. Flowchart of OCP

The one particle is calculated contingency number times.
The OBJ of particle has to be updated by the greatest value of
all contingency, namely the most sever contingency.
III. CASE STUDY
This section provides an example applying the proposed
method, OCP, into NewEngland 39-buses test system to verify
the method. The particle number is 50 and the candidate
location is the all load buses, and 5 banks (10Mvar per bank)
can be allocated at each and all load bus. The desired voltage
stability margin ( ) is 1.8 and the contingency is not consider
to reduce the progress time. All
3 2 1
, , C C C are 1. FORTRAN
is used as a front end language and the simulations are carried
out on a Intel core2 CPU, 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM processor.
The test case1 is the ordinary velocity calculation method
and the case2 is the suggested method. The next table (1) and
figure (2) show the OBJ results about case1 and case2. For the
accuracy of result, total 20 times simulation per each case is
performed.

TABLE I
OBJ RESULT OF EACH CASE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Case1 20.19 20.19 21.19 28.19 20.19 21.19 24.19
Case2 20.19 21.19 21.19 21.19 20.19 21.19 21.19
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Case1 20.19 22.19 24.19 24.19 24.19 21.19 20.19
Case2 21.19 21.19 20.19 20.19 20.19 20.19 20.19
15 16 17 18 19 20
Case1 20.19 21.19 21.19 22.19 21.19 20.19
Case2 20.19 21.19 20.19 22.19 20.19 20.19


Fig. 2. OBJ result of each case

In figure (2), we can compare with the two results. The
horizontal axis is the number of times of simulation and the
vertical axis is the OBJ value which has to show the low result.
The result of case1 is not uniform, namely, the possibility to
find the optimal solution is so low. The other side, case2 can
improve the possibility to find the optimal solution.
The next table (2) and figure (3) show the CPU times about
case1 and case2.

TABLE II
CPU TIME OF EACH CASE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Case1 596 280 626 438 774 761 545
Case2 131 268 191 237 64 191 231
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Case1 809 490 519 475 640 641 505
Case2 176 185 164 201 163 151 184
15 16 17 18 19 20
Case1 728 499 548 520 531 744
Case2 207 164 220 94 171 213


Fig. 3. CPU time of each case

In figure (3), we can compare with the two results.
The horizontal axis is the number of times of simulation and
the vertical axis is the CPU time (second). The result of case2
is less than case1. The suggested algorithm reduces the CPU
time about average three times.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper suggests an optimal capacitor placement
considering voltage stability margin based on improved PSO
algorithm which is useful to power systems var planning. The
power system planning must consider the voltage stability
margin. The suggested algorithm can find the solution well to
insure the VSM. To solve OCP problem, PSO algorithm is
applied because PSO can find global solution and is easy to
handle integer variable. But, PSO is limited to solve the
optimal solution because of several reasons, so suggested
algorithm complements a weak point of PSO.
This paper demonstrates the quality of suggested algorithm
through the test system. The improved PSO shows good
characteristics about accuracy and simulation running time.
However, as ever, it is too late to apply to large system. So,
hereafter, the studies for more accurate and fast running time
have to be advanced.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is the outcome of a Manpower Development
Program for Energy & Resources supported by the Ministry of
Knowledge and Economy (MKE) and supported in part by the
Korea Electric Power Research Institute.
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