Reactive power and Voltage Control in Kerala Grid and Optimization of Control Variables Using Genetic Algorithm

Voltage profile at different nodes in the power system is affected greatly by the variations in load and generation profiles during normal and abnormal operating states. Under-voltages impact adversely on the system voltage stability margin and bulk power carrying capacity of transmission lines, which may lead to steady state or dynamic voltage collapse phenomenon. In order to avoid these circumstances the power utility operator in the control center will have to re-dispatch the reactive power control devices. The reactive power control devices are generators, tap positions of on-load tap changer of transformers and shunt capacitors. In this work the effect of changing reactive power control variables has been tested on Kerala grid consisting of 171 buses modeled in power world simulator. A genetic algorithm based approach to the optimization of reactive power and voltage profile improvement and real power loss minimization is also presented. The feasibility and effectiveness of the developed genetic algorithm is tested on a sample 9-bus system.