Optimal VAR control for improvements in voltage profiles and for real power loss minimization using Biogeography Based Optimization

In this paper, a Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO) technique is introduced to solve multi-constrained optimal reactive power flow (ORPF) problem in power system. ORPF is a multi-objective nonlinear optimization problem that minimizes the bus voltage deviation and real power loss. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated for IEEE 30-bus system and IEEE 118-bus system. A comparison of simulation results reveals optimization efficacy of the proposed scheme over other well established population based optimization techniques like conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO), general passive congregation PSO (GPAC), local passive congregation PSO (LPAC), coordinated aggregation (CA) and interior point based OPF (IP-OPF).