Optimal Power Flow for Steady State Security Enhancement using Enhanced Genetic Algorithm with FACTS Devices

This paper presents an enhanced Genetic Algorithm (EGA) based approach to solve the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) with FACTS devices to eliminate line over loads in the system following single line outages. The optimizations are performed on two parameters: the location of the devices, and their values. Two different kinds of FACTS controllers are used for steady state studies: Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitors (TCSCs) and Thyristor controlled Phase shifting Transformers (TCPSTs). The proposed approach uses an index called the single contingency sensitivity (SCS) index to rank the system branches according to their suitability for installing TCSC and TCPST. Once the locations are identified, the problem of determining the optimal TCSC and TCPST parameters is formulated as an optimization problem and a GA based approach is applied to solve the Optimal Power Flow ( OPF) problem. Simulations are done on IEEE 30 bus system for a few harmful contingencies.