The effect of harmonics on the optimal capacitor placement problem

The effect of harmonics on reactive power compensation of radial distribution systems is studied In this work. The problem of optimal capacitor sizing and placement is solved for a nonuniform radial distribution system with lateral subfeeders with nonlinear loads distributed along the feeder. The voltage at each bus along the feeder after capacitor installation is calculated for each harmonic order. The total voltage and current harmonic distortions are calculated and added to the fundamental values. The new updated voltage and current values are used to solve for the capacitor optimal size and location as well as the net dollar savings. The method is simple and can be easily handled by the utility engineer. The algorithm is applied on a 34-bus radial distribution system with lateral subfeeders and the results are given for different cases; light and heavy harmonics cases.