A novel symbiotic organisms search algorithm for optimal power flow of power system with FACTS devices

In this paper, symbiotic organisms search (SOS) algorithm is proposed for the solution of optimal power flow (OPF) problem of power system equipped with flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) devices. Inspired by interaction between organisms in ecosystem, SOS algorithm is a recent population based algorithm which does not require any algorithm specific control parameters unlike other algorithms. The performance of the proposed SOS algorithm is tested on the modified IEEE-30 bus and IEEE-57 bus test systems incorporating two types of FACTS devices, namely, thyristor controlled series capacitor and thyristor controlled phase shifter at fixed locations. The OPF problem of the present work is formulated with four different objective functions viz. (a) fuel cost minimization, (b) transmission active power loss minimization, (c) emission reduction and (d) minimization of combined economic and environmental cost. The simulation results exhibit the potential of the proposed SOS algorithm and demonstrate its effectiveness for solving the OPF problem of power system incorporating FACTS devices over the other evolutionary optimization techniques that surfaced in the recent state-of-the-art literature.