Particle swarm optimization with constriction factor for optimal reactive power dispatch

Abstract

This paper proposes a simple particle swarm optimization with constriction factor(PSO-CF) method for solving optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem. The proposed PSO-CFis the conventional particle swarm optimization based on constriction factor which can deal withdifferent objectives of the problem such as minimizing the real power losses, improving the voltageprofile, and enhancing the voltage stability and properly handle various constraints for reactive powerlimits of generators and switchable capacitor banks, bus voltage limits, tap changer limits fortransformers, and transmission line limits. The proposed method has been tested on the IEEE 30-busand IEEE 118-bus systems and the obtained results are compared to those from other PSO variants andother methods in the literature. The result comparison has shown that the proposed method can obtaintotal power loss, voltage deviation or voltage stability index less than the others for the consideredcases. Therefore, the proposed PSO-CF can be favorable solving the ORPD problem.