Simultaneous RPD and SVC Placement in Power Systems for Voltage Stability Improvement Using a Fuzzy Weighted Seeker Optimization Algorithm

Voltage stability issues are growing challenges in many modern power systems. This paper proposes optimizing the size and location of Static VAR Compensator (SVC) devices using a Fuzzy Weighted Seeker Optimization Algorithm (FWSOA), as an effective solution to overcome such issues. Although the primary purpose of SVC is bus voltage regulation, it can also be useful for voltage stability enhancement and even real power losses reduction in the network. To this aim, a multi-objective function is presented which includes voltage profile improvement, Voltage Stability Margin (VSM) enhancement and minimization of active power losses. Voltage stability is very close to Reactive Power Dispatch (RPD) in the network. Therefore, in addition to voltage regulation with locating SVCs, considering all of the other control variables including excitation settings of generators, tap positions of tap changing transformers and reactive power output of fixed capacitors in the network, simultaneous RPD and SVC placement will be achieved. Simulation results on IEEE 14 and 57-bus test systems, applying Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Seeker Optimization Algorithm (SOA) and FWSOA verify the efficiency of FWSOA for the above claims.