Transmission Congestion Management through Optimal Placement and Sizing of TCSC Devices in a Deregulated Power Network

Abstract

Transmission congestion is mainly caused by agreed transactions between generating companies and distributing companies in deregulated power system networks across the world. Secured and economic operation of power system networks in the deregulated scenario can be ensured by managing the congestion in the transmission lines. FACTS devices are used for changing the power flow through the lines so that all the lines are carrying power flow below their respective limit. In this work, series connected Thyristor Controlled Switched Capacitor(TCSC) devices are installed in suitable lines for relieving congestion in the over loaded lines of the system. The size and location of TCSC devices greatly affect their efficiency in congestion management problem. To maximize the benefits of TCSC in congestion management problem, the site and size of the TCSC devices are optimized by using an optimization technique. The recent bio inspired Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is employed in this proposed work for the optimization of the objective value through identifying the position and size of FACTS devices. This algorithm involves low number of parameters to be tuned for attaining global best results and can be easily coded in Matlab platform. The proposed WOA based method for optimal position and sizing of TCSC is implemented on the IEEE 30 bus test system. The results obtained are compared against the results reported by Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO), Firefly algorithm(FFA)and are found to be outperforming.