Substation expansion planning in Kulon progo region using imperialist competitive algorithm

The objective of substation expansion planning (SEP) is to prepare the capacity of a substation in order to supply the load growth in the future. The planning is conducted also to minimize the investment and operation cost of the substation, by finding its optimal location, capacity, and construction time. This paper proposes SEP using an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) and geographical information system (GIS). The type of planning is one stage, with 10 years period time (long-term). Two alternatives of SEP, which are the expansion of existing substation and the construction of a new substation in the new location are analyzed and compared. The alternative with a lower cost without breaking the constraints is taken. The effect of ICA parameters is also tested to find the best optimum value and the fastest execution time. Finally, the comparison between ICA and Genetic Algorithm (GA) is done to prove the effectiveness of the method in the SEP.