Genetic algorithm based optimal location of SVC in power system for voltage stability enhancement

Voltage instability and voltage collapse are the foremost permanent concerns of electric utilities because of blackout event occurrences around the world. Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) has been proposed as the better alternative to overcome this, as in addition to improving voltage stability they improve system performance, reliability, quality of supply and also provide environmental benefit. The type of FACTS device and their location and setting in the system have different effect on power system. For determining that optimal location which maximises voltage stability, this paper employs Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimisation technique. Static Var Compensator (SVC) is the FACTS device used for improving voltage stability margin. To analyze the voltage stability of power system, Continuation Power Flow (CPF) analysis is used here. The study was conducted on IEEE 14 bus and modified IEEE 30 bus test systems and the optimal locations were identified.