A new method for secured optimal power flow under normal and network contingencies via optimal location of TCSC

•This paper focuses on the secured optimal power flow solution and enhancement of system performance.•Location proper of TCSC was determined via bottleneck of power system.•Minimum cut methodology was used to determine bottleneck location.•Results were presented under normal and network contingencies.•The IEEE 118-bus power systems were used in the study.

In the deregulated power industry, private power producers are increasing rapidly to meet the increase demand. The purpose of the transmission network is to pool power plants and load centers in order to supply the load at a required reliability, maximum efficiency and at lower cost. As power transfer increases, the power system becomes increasingly more difficult to operate and insecure with unscheduled power flows and higher losses. FACTS devices such as Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC) can be very effective to power system security. Proper location of TCSC plays key role in optimal power flow solution and enhancement of system performance without violating the security of the system. This paper applied min cut algorithm to select proper location of TCSC for secured optimal power flow under normal and contingencies operating condition. Proposed method requires a two-step approach. First, the optimal location of the TCSC in the network must be ascertained by min cut algorithm and then, the optimal power flow (OPF) with TCSC under normal and contingencies operating condition is solved. The proposed method was tested and validated for locating TCSC in Six bus, IEEE 14-, IEEE-30 and IEEE-118 bus test systems. Results show that the proposed method is good to select proper location of TCSC for secured OPF.