International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169 Volume: 2 Issue: 8 2246 – 2249 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2246 IJRITCC | August 2014, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org _______________________________________________________________________________________ Optimal Placement of Capacitors in Radial Distribution System to Minimizes the Losses at Variable Load Levels Neha Goyal 1 , Pushpendra Singh 2 [1] Student, [2] Assistant Professor in Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Government Women Engineering College, Ajmer-305002, Rajasthan, India [1] goyalneha1389@gmail.com [2] pushpendragweca@gmail.com Abstract: This paper presents an efficient approach for optimal placement of capacitor in radial distribution system, with an objective of improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. Distribution system is a link between high voltage transmission system and the low voltage end users, so it’s very essential to keep the system healthy and with minimum losses. The present work is devoted to determine the optimal locations and sizes of capacitors with different load levels using a genetic algorithm. Implementation of the Genetic Algorithm for its multifunction capability is one of the distinguished characteristics for optimal capacitor placement in distribution system. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, it is tested on IEEE 33-bus radial distribution networks. Key-Words: - - Power System, bus voltage control, Capacitor Placement, optimization techniques, load levels. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________ I. Introduction The widespread use of electrical energy by modern civilization has necessitated producing, transmitting, and distributing bulk electrical energy economically and efficiently. Electricity distribution is a final stage in the delivery of electricity to end users. A distribution network carries electricity from the transmission system and delivers it to consumers. It is the most visible part of the supply chain, About 30 to 40 % of total investments in the electrical sector go to distribution systems, but nevertheless, they have not received the technological impact in the same manner as the generation and transmission systems. The loss minimization in distribution systems has assumed greater significance recently since the trend towards distribution automation is to improve their reliability, efficiency and service quality will require the most efficient operating scenario for economic viability variations. To achieve power and energy no reduction, voltage regulation and for reactive power compensation, capacitors are widely installed in distribution systems. Capacitors are commonly employed to provide reactive power compensation, improve the power factor, feeder voltage profile, Power loss reduction and increases available capacity of feeders in distribution system. Static capacitors are the cheapest and the simplest means for reactive power compensation. Therefore it is important to find optimal location and sizes of capacitors in the system to achieve the above mentioned objectives. There are many ways for capacitor placement and determination size of capacitors in power systems. Many techniques have been developed for solving the capacitor placement problem, namely, analytical, numerical programming, heuristic and artificial based techniques [1]. Duran et al. [2] consider the capacitor sizes as discrete variable and employed dynamic programming, whereas, Grainger and Lee [3] were expressed the location and capacity of capacitor as continues variable based on non linear programming. Maxwell [4] suggests there are several benefits of capacitor placement which include: (i) Reduced I 2 R losses and energy losses. (ii) Reduced regulation cost. (iii) Reduced kVA input to feeder. (iv) Reduced I 2 X losses. (v) Increased revenue as result increased voltage levels. Salama M.M.A. et al [5] in their work assume a fixed load condition and a uniform feeder. A concentrated load at the end of the feeder is dealt with separately. In solving optimal capacitor placement problem heuristic based techniques have been widely used. Abdel- Salam [6] in their paper uses heuristic technique for reactive loss reduction in distribution network. The capacitor rating is determined by differentiating the system losses with respect to the load connected to that node. M. Masoum et al. [7] Fuzzy logic has been applied to solve the capacitor placement problem in which the constraints are fuzzified and the alpha cuts are used to direct the search process to ensure that the objective function is improved at each iteration process. In 2007 Haghifam and Modares in [8] developed an efficient Genetic Algorithm with a new coding as two rows of chromosome used for optimization in simultaneous allocation of fixed and switchable capacitors. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is an effective tool in solving the optimization problem especially in case of capacitor location in radial distribution system [9]. Pushpendra [10] in their paper uses concept of ant colony search with limits and improvement technique is use along with GA to search the proper mutation operator to accelerate searching out the global solution. To improve quality of power and its stability and voltage regulation shunt compensation are basically used in transmission system [11]. By reactive power compensation shunt capacitor maintains the voltage level in power line, Series compensation is used to control the impedance of