OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF STATIC VAR COMPENSATORS USING MODAL ANALYSIS, SIMULATED ANNEALING AND TABU SEARCH

This paper investigates the ability of tabu search (TS) and simulated annealing (SA) optimization methods to deal with optimal placement of Static Var Compensators (SVC) in a large power system based on its primary function, where the optimization is made on two parameters: its location and size. The primary function of an SVC is improving transmission system voltage, thereby enhancing the maximum power transfer limit. Modal analysis is used to place several SVCs in the power system and the results obtained are compared with the results of applied TS and SA techniques. The results show that SA can give a good suboptimal placement while TS gives an optimal solution. Since by using the modal analysis alone SVCs may not be placed optimally in the power system, the study is carried out in two steps. In the first step, by using the modal analysis, the critical area of the power system is identified in view of the voltage instability. In the second step, once the weak area is identified, the SA technique is applied to get the level of compensation by the SVCs.