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Abstract
Reactive power compensation is known as an effective tool to overcome the violations of voltage limits in electric power systems. It is also deployed to be an efficient method to minimise transmission losses. In order to maximize the effectiveness of reactive power compensation, VAr sources of proper sizes should be placed at some network buses. In this paper, a new VAr expansion tool has been developed to improve the voltage profile and reduce MW losses in a bulk power network. Keeping the minimum expansion cost and minimum switching of capacitor banks during change of load level of the system are emphasized in the proposed method. This method is based on application of genetic algorithm in conjunction with linear programming. Selection of candidate buses for VAr compensation is performed with a modified weak bus oriented method. Genetic algorithm is effectively employed in this algorithm both for selecting the candidate buses for VAr compensation and for preliminary suggestion of optimal solution. The developed method is then applied to the transmission network of Bakhtar Regional Electric Company (BREC) which supplies three provinces of Iran. The simulation results of this case study are also presented in this paper.
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Notes on contributors
Abolfazl Pirayesh
Abolfazl Pirayesh received a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and M.Sc. in Electric Power Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1998 and 2000, respectively. Currently he is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical Engineering Department of Sharif University and with the collaboration of the electrical engineering laboratory of the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France. His main research interest is in the application of artificial intelligence techniques to reactive power optimization.
Mehdi Vakilian
Mehdi Vakilian received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (1978) and MSc (1986) in Electric Power Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and Ph.D. in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA in 1993. He worked with Iran Generation and Transmission Company (Tavanir) as Manager of Transmission Network Operation Department (1981–1983), and as Director of Transmission & Distribution Education Planning Department of Iranian Ministry of Energy (1984–1985). In 1986 he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering of Sharif University of Technology as instructor. From 1993 he continued his work as Assistant Professor in Electric Power Engineering; from 1997 to 2001 he was also Director of Electric Power Group. From 2001 to 2003 he was Associate Professor and also Chairman of the Department. His research interest is transient modeling of power system equipment, optimum design of high voltage equipment insulation, and insulation monitoring. During 2003–2004 he was on leave to study at the School of Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications of University of New South Wales, Sydney. At present he is also the director of a committee in charge of restructuring electrical engineering education in Sharif University of Technology.