Optimal location and sizing of DSTATCOM in distribution systems by immune algorithm

•Immune algorithm (IA) is used for optimal DSTATCOM placement and sizing.•Proposed methods were performed on two IEEE test systems (33 and 69 bus).•Simulation confirmed effectiveness of proposed IA method over GA in minimizing OF.

In this paper, optimal location and sizing of DSTATCOM for the sake of power loss reduction, and improvement of current and voltage profile in distribution networks are investigated. An effective biologically inspired algorithm (Immune Algorithm) is used to search the best location and determine the size of DSTATCOM. By keeping voltage and current profile improvements in mind, minimum cost of installation of DSTATCOM and maximum power loss reduction are integrated into an objective function through appropriate weighting factors. Comparative results are obtained on two standard distribution systems (IEEE 33-bus and IEEE 69-bus) with encouraging optimization as far as location and size of DSTATCOM and objective function minimization are concerned.