Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm based Power Quality Improvement {tag} {/tag} IJCA Special Issue on International Conference on Communication, Computing and Information Technology © 2013 by IJCA Journal ICCCMIT - Number 3 Year of Publication: 2013 Authors: K.S.Ravi Kumar S.V.A.R.Sastry {bibtex}icccmit1015.bib{/bibtex} Abstract The term ‘power quality’ [1-2] refers to the purity of the voltage and current wave-form, and a power quality disturbance is a deviation from the pure sinusoidal form. Harmonics superimposed on the fundamental are one cause of such deviations. Power quality problems [1-2] like voltage harmonics, voltage flickers, voltage sags and voltage swells, current harmonics, current unbalance, reactive current etc. are studied.Conventionally passive L-C filters [3] were used to reduce harmonics and capacitors were employed to improve the power factor of the AC loads. However, the demerits of passive filters are fixed compensation, large size and resonance. The increased severity of harmonic pollution in the power networks has 1 / 3