Particle Swarm Optimization Approach for Contingency Constrained Reactive Power Planning

This paper presents a particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach for solving the contingency constrained optimal reactive power planning (CCORPP) problem. Generator bus voltage magnitudes, transformer tap settings and reactive power generation of capacitor bank are taken as the control variables. While solving the RPP problem using particle swarm optimization, the voltage magnitudes, the transformer tap setting and the reactive power generations of capacitor are taken as continuous variables. The proposed algorithm has been applied to find the optimal reactive power control variables in IEEE 30-bus system and is found to be more effective than the conventional methods and the Evolutionary Programming.