Harmonic passive filter planning in radial distribution systems using genetic algorithms

The harmonic voltage levels on distribution systems are growing due the increasing proliferation of numerous and widely dispersed nonlinear loads. On some of them, the harmonic levels will soon require reduction through the application of tuned filters. However, the several characteristics of primary radial distribution systems make harmonic filter planning a difficult task. In this work, the harmonic filter planning is presented as a combinatorial optimization problem, which is solved using genetic algorithms. In the developed method, the optimal combination of localizations, filter sizes, reduction of power losses and voltage harmonic levels on system has been considered. The system harmonic levels are obtained by a current injection method and the load flow is solved by the iterative method of power sum, which is suitable for the accuracy requirements of this type of study. It is shown that harmonic voltages and power losses are minimized simultaneously and the voltage harmonic magnitudes are constrained for the harmonic standards. The simulation results for a 15 bus radial system show that the proposed method is efficient for solving the presented problem.