Placement and sizing of distributed generation units for congestion management and improvement of voltage profile using particle swarm optimization

Applications of distributed generation (DG) units is increasing in modern power systems and smart grids. An important issue with DGs is their optimal location and sizing within the distribution system. In this paper, a particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is proposed for optimal placement and sizing of DG units in order to reduce network congestion and minimize locational marginal price (LMP) differences between various buses. The objectives include improvement of voltage profile and minimization of the investment and operation costs. The IEEE 14-bus test system is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed GA with LMP-based objective function in relieving congestion and increasing total system benefit while reducing generation cost and improving voltage profiles. Main contributions are the inclusion of congestion management and social welfare in the DG placement/sizing problem considering non-radial (loop) networks.