Constrained Optimal Power Flow using Particle Swarm Optimization

Optimal power flow is an optimizing tool for operation and planning of modern power systems. This paper presents the solution of the optimal power flow (OPF) using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The main goal of this paper is to verify the viability of using PSO problem composed by different objective functions. This OPF problem involves the optimization of various types of objective functions while satisfying a set of operational and physical constraints while keeping the power outputs of generators, bus voltages, shunt capacitors/reactors and transformers tap settings in their limits. The proposed PSO method is demonstrated and compared with Evolutionary Programming (EP) approach on the standard IEEE 14-bus system. The results show that the proposed PSO method is capable of obtaining higher quality solutions efficiently in OPF problem. Keywords— Optimal power flow, PSO, Constraint handling, EP.