Implementation of new evolutionary techniques for transmission loss reduction

This paper presents a comparison between bacteria foraging algorithm (BFA), conventional genetic algorithm (CGA) and differential genetic algorithm (DGA) with regard to transmission loss minimization considering the New England 39-bus power system as a test case. Considering all the standard equality and inequality constraints, solutions are obtained that minimize losses by changing the tap settings of various transformers. It has already been demonstrated from the previous research work that there are certain buses in the system where reactive power injections from capacitor banks can improve the voltage profile and reduce the transmission losses. This paper employs bacteria foraging algorithm (BFA) with some modifications so as to expidite the convergence of the optimization problem. A comparison between the three methods suggests the superiority of the bacteria foraging algorithm.