International Journal of scientific research and management

(IJSRM) ||Volume||2||Issue||4||Pages||751-757||2013||
Website: www.ijsrm.in ISSN (e): 2321-3418

PLACEMENT OF CAPACITOR IN A RADIAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

USING LOSS SENSITIVITY FACTOR AND CUCKOO SEARCH ALGORITHM.
Priyanka Das1 , S Banerjee2

(Depart ment of Electrical Eng ineering, Dr. B.C Roy Engineering Co llege, Durgapur West Bengal, India, Email:
1
bcet.priyanka1989@g mail.co m, 2 sumit_ 9999@red iffmail.co m)

ABSTRACT

Active power loss minimization in distribution systems is very essential to raise the overall efficiency of
power system. This article is proposing a method of reducing the loss by placing shunt capacitors in a radial
distribution system. Here two stage methods have been proposed for optimal allocation of capacitor in a
radial distribution system. In first stage loss sensitivity factor is used to calculate the location and secondly
the cuckoo search algorithm is used for minimization of cost that includes capacitor cost and cost due to
power loss. The proposed method is tested on 33-bus and 69-bus system and results are given below.

Keywords : Cuckoo search algorithm, Loss sensitivity factor, Radial distribution system, Shunt capacitors.

1. INTRODUCTION

With growing population, the load demand is also increasing, the structure of distribution system is
becoming more complex and due to heavy loads it tends to increase the system losses and for that reason the
voltage profile is badly decreasing. For heavy load the reactive power flow causes significant losses and also
reduces the voltage level .So Distribution Company must perform some kind of compensative work to
minimize the power loss and also to increase the voltage profile. To reduce the power loss and to increase
the voltage profile to optimally locate the shunt capacitor in a radial distribution system is the most reliable
option as it provides reactive compensation. The size of shunt capacitor should be optimal so that it can
reduce the power loss and also it should be placed in the appropriate location so that there will be
enhancement in voltage level. If the power loss will get minimized it will increase the life span of the
distribution network and also the reliability of the system. Placement of capacitor deals with the proper
location where the capacitor to be placed, type of the capacitor to be used ,size of the capacitor and the total
number of the capacitor that should be placed so that the total cost should be minimized without violating
the operational constraints. The development in optimization technique has helped a lot for cost
optimization. Many research works has been done on this topic. Numerous optimization techniques have
been proposed by researchers to optimally allocate the capacitor in a radial distribution system. They are
classified into four groups, analytical methods, numerical programming methods, heuristic methods and
meta-heuristic methods. The early proposed approaches are the analytical numerical programming
techniques like local variation methods [1] and mixed integer linear programming techniques [2,3] have
been introduced for solving the problem of capacitor sizing and allocation. In recent years, the most popular
meta- heuristic approaches have been introduced for the VAr planning problem study. The authors who
used meta-heuristics methods we find, Huang et al. [4] They have solved the capacitors optimal placement
using an immune multi-objective algorithm. They have modeled the objective functions by fuzzy logic
(FL).The method provides us a set of feasible solutions. Bhattacharya and coauthors [5] have introduced a
FL-based simulated annealing (SA) method to find the optimal sizes of capacitor. Using FL the suitable
locations are identified and their sizes are obtained using SA by Prakash et al. [6] have also used a hybrid
method where the capacitor suitable places are determined by means of loss sensitivity factors. The optimal
sizes, considered as continuous variables, are determined using particle swarm optimization (PSO)
algorithm. To determine the fixed and switched capacitor sizes, Das [7] has suggested a genetic algorithm

Priyanka Das1 IJSRM volume 2 issue 4 April 2014 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 751
(GA) based FL approach to maximize the net savings and minimize node voltage deviations. The two
objectives are first fuzzified and integrated into a fuzzy global objective function through appropriate
weighting factors. The weighting factors are optimized by GA. On the other hand, Seifi et al. [8] in their
FL–GA hybrid technique have used the fuzzy reasoning to find the best capacitor locations and GA, for
finding the optimal weighting factors of the voltage and the power losses exponential membership functions.
The capacitor optimal size is that, among the available standard capacitors, giving the best objective
function. Abdelaziz et al. [9] have proposed a method based on fuzzy expert systems to select the best
candidate nodes for receiving capacitors in order to maximize the power loss reduction and total net savings.
For the total power loss minimization they have determined the optimal locations and tapping ratio for
voltage regulator. They have used Cuckoo Search in engineering optimization. [15]

2. PROBLEM FORMULATION
Here the main objective is to minimize the total cost due to real power loss and capacitor installation. To
solve the capacitor placement and sizing problem the following objective function has been taken.

Min f =min (COST) (1)

where COST is the objective function which includes the cost of power loss and capacitor placement. The
voltage magnitude at each bus must be maintained within its limit and can be expressed as

V min ≤│Vi│≤ V max (2)

Where │Vi│ is the voltage magnitude at bus i and V min and V max are the minimum and maximum voltage
limits respectively .For the calculation of power flows the following sets of simplified recursive equations
which are derived from single line diagram are shown in fig 1.

Pi+1 = Pi – PLi+1 – Ri,i+1 . (3)

Q i+1 = Q i – Q i+1 – X i+1 . (4)

│ V i+1 2 │=│ Vi2 │- 2 (R i, i+1 .Pi + X i ,i+1 .Q i )+(R i ,i+1 2 + Q i 2

,i+1 ) . (5)

Where P i and Q i are the real and reactive power flowing out of bus i ,P Li and Q Li are the real and reactive
load powers at bus i. The resistance and reactance of the line section between bus i and i+1 are denoted by
R i ,i+1 and X i,i+1.

The power loss of the line section connecting the buses i and i+1 may be calculated as:

P LOSS ( i ,i+1 )= R i ,i+1 . (6)

Priyanka Das1 IJSRM volume 2 issue 4 April 2014 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 752
 Fig1. Single line diagram of main feeder.

The total power loss of the feeder P T ,LOSS can be computed by summing up the losses of all the line sections
of the feeder, and given as

PT , LOSS = (7)

The total cost due to capacitor placement and power loss change is given by:

COST = K p .PT, LOSS+ (8)

Where n is the number of candidate locations for capacitor placement K p is the equivalent annual cost per
unit of power loss in $/( kw year ); K cf is the fixed cost for the capacitor placement. The constant Kic is the
annual capacitor installation cost, and, i = 1, 2, . . . , n are the indices of the buses selected for compensation.
K p = 168$ / (kw year) and K cf = 1000$ are taken.

2.1 Constraints

Each capacitor size minimizing the objective function, must verify the equality and inequality constraints.
Two inequality constraints are considered here for capacitor placement that must be satisfied are as such:

(I) V min ≤ │Vi│≤ V max

0.95≤│Vi│≤1.05 (9)

(II) Capacitors are available in discrete sizes. So, shunt capacitors are to be dealt with multiple integers
of the smallest capacitor size available and it may mathematically be expressed as:

Q c i ≤ L Qs L = 1,2,3 …. , nc (10)
th
where nc is number of shunt capacitors, Q c i is the kVAr rating of capacitor installed at the i bus and Qs
smallest capacitor size available.

2.2 Sensitivity Analysis and Loss Sensitivity Factors

By using loss sensitivity factors the candidate nodes for the capacitor placement is determined. By
estimation of these candidate nodes it helps in the reduction of search space for optimization problem.
Considering a distribution line with an impedance R +j X and a load Peff and Q eff connected between buses
p and q is given by.

Active power loss can be given by in (3) is rewritten for kth line between buses p and q as

Plineloss [q] = (11)

Priyanka Das1 IJSRM volume 2 issue 4 April 2014 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 753
 Similarly the reactive power loss in the kth line is given by
QLineloss[q ] = (12)

Where P eff [q] = Total effective active power supplied beyond the node ‘q’. Qeff[q]= Total effective reactive
power supplied beyond the node ‘q’.
Both the loss sensitivity factor can be given as:
= (13)

= (14)

2.3. Candidate node selection using loss sensitivity factors

The Loss Sensitivity Factors ( ) are calculated from the base case load flows and the values are

arranged in descending order for all the lines of the given system. A vector bus position ‘bpos [i]’ is used to
store the respective ‘end’ buses of the lines arranged in descending order of the values ( ).The

descending order of ( ) elements of ‘‘bpos[i]’ vector will decide the sequence in which the buses are

to be considered for compensation. This sequence is purely governed by the ( ) and hence the
proposed ‘Loss Sensitive Coefficient’ factors become very powerful and useful in capacitor allocation or
Placement. At these buses of ‘bpos [i]’ vector, normalized voltage magnitudes are calculated by considering
the base case voltage magnitudes given by (norm[i] = V[i]/0.95). Now for the buses whose norm[i] value is
less than 1.01 are considered as the candidate buses requiring the Capacitor Placement. These candidate
buses are stored in ‘rank bus’ vector. It is worth note that the ‘Loss Sensitivity factors’ decide the sequence
in which buses are to be considered for compensation placement and the ‘norm[i]’ decides whether the buses
needs Q-Compensation or not. If the voltage at a bus in the sequence list is healthy (i.e., norm[i] > 1.01)
such bus needs no compensation and that bus will not be listed in the ‘rank bus’ vector. The ‘rank bus’
vector offers the information about the possible potential or candidate buses for capacitor placement.

3. CUCKOO SEARCH ALGORITHM

The Cuckoo search algorithm is a recently developed optimization process by Xin-she yang and suash
2009.The basic concept of algorithm is inspired by a bird family called cuckoo because of their unique life
style and aggressive reproduction techniques. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and also remove
the existing eggs which increase the hatching probability of their eggs. Also, some of the host birds are able
to combat this parasites behavior of cuckoos and either they throw out the discovered alien eggs or they
build their new nests in a new locations. Here populations of nests or eggs are considered in this algorithm.
The following representations are used where each egg in a nest represents a solution and a Cuckoo egg
represents a new solution. If the egg of the cuckoo is very similar to the host’s egg, then the egg of the
cuckoo bird is less likely to be discovered by the host bird, so the fitness should be related to the difference
in solutions. The aim of this algorithm is that not so good solution should be replaced by a new and good
one.
The three idealized rule of Cuckoo search algorithm are :
1. Each Cuckoo lays one egg at a time and dumps it in a randomly chosen nest.

Priyanka Das1 IJSRM volume 2 issue 4 April 2014 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 754
2. The best nests with high quality of eggs are carried over to the next generations.
3. The number of available host nest is constant, and the egg of Cuckoo is discovered by the host bird with a
probability of pa in the range of [0, 1]. The later assumption can be approximated by the fraction pa of the n
nests which is replaced by new ones (with new random solutions ).
4. PROPOSED OPTIMAL CAPACITOR PLACEMENT METHODOLOGY
Here in this proposed method the Cuckoo Search algorithm is applied as an optimization technique to
determine the optimal size of the capacitor at the buses. Power flow is used for the computation of power
loss. The procedures for implementation of the proposed optimal capacitor placement method has been
described in two stages are as follows:

Determination of candidate location

Step1: Input all the parameters like line data and load data.
Step2: Run the load flow as explained above by using set of simplified recursive equation.
Step3: Calculate the loss sensitivity factor.
Step4: Select the buses whose norm[i] value is less than 1.01 as candidate location.

Optimization using CUCKOO SEARCH Algorithm.

Step1: Perform the load flow to find initial losses without any capacitor placement. The losses value will be
the first fitness value FV1 for the algorithm;
Step2: Set all the parameters of Cuckoo search such as: number of host nests (n = 25), maximum number of
iterations (niter = 70), probability (pa = 0.25) for the worst nest.
Step3: Randomly initialize the solutions Nest (i,:) = Lb+(Ub- Lb).*rand(size(Lb)) Get the current best for
objective function as described in equation number (8).
Step4: Start iterations
Step5: Again perform the load flow to find the power loss with capacitor placement. The losses
value will be the second fitness value FV2 for the algorithm.
Step6: Compare both the values and find out total power loss reduction.
Step7: Generate new solutions (but the current best should be kept).
s=s + step size.*randn (size(s)).
Step8: Discovery for the new nest and the process of randomization are;
K=rand (size(nest))>pa
step size=rand*(nest(rand(n),:)- nest(rand(n),:))
new nest=nest + stepsize.*K
Step9: Evaluate this set of solutions
Step10: Find the best objective function so far.
Step11: Increment iteration count and if the iteration count is not reached go to step 8.
Step12: Repeat the procedure till end of iterations and get the value of the best objective function.

5. RESULT:
Loss sensitivity factor is used to calculate the candidate location for the capacitor placement and Cuckoo
search algorithm is used to find the optimal capacitor size. Population size n=25 and Discovery rate of alien
eggs/solutions Pa=0.25

5.1 . Results of 33-bus system

The proposed algorithm is applied to 33-bus system [13]. Optimal capacitor locations are identified based on
the Loss sensitivity factor values. For this 33-bus system, one optimal location is identified. Capacitor size
in that optimal location, total real power losses before and after compensation, voltage profile before and
after compensation and total annual cost before and after compensation are shown below in Table1.

BUS NO; 6

Priyanka Das1 IJSRM volume 2 issue 4 April 2014 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 755
 CAPACITOR SIZE in ( kVAR) 1881
TOTAL REAL POWER LOSS in (kW) before 201.8588
compensation.
TOTAL REAL POWER LOSS in (kW) after 127.9102
compensation.
VOLTAGE IN P.U at bus number 6 before 0.9499
compensation.
VOLTAGE IN P.U at bus number 6 after 0.9629
compensation

TOTAL ANNUAL COST before 40573.62$

compensation
TOTAL ANNUAL COST after compensation 21816.18$
LOSS REDUCTION 73.94
LOSS REDUCTION % 36.63%

5.2. Results of 69-bus system

The proposed algorithm is applied to 69-bus system [14]. Optimal capacitor location is identified based
on the Loss sensitivity factor values. For this 69-bus system, one optimal location is identified. Capacitor
sizes in that optimal location, total real power losses before and after compensation, voltage profile before
and after compensation, total annual cost before and after compensation are shown below in Table-2.
BUS NO; 61
CAPACITO R SIZE in ( KVAR) 1164
TOTAL REAL POWER LOSS in(KW) before 224.5407
compensation
TOTAL REAL POWER LOSS in (KW) after 151.6459
compensation
VOLTAGE IN P.U at bus number 6 before 0.9133
compensation
VOLTAGE IN P.U at bus number 6 after 0.9364
compensation
TOTAL ANNUAL COST before 37722.83$
compensation
TOTAL ANNUAL COST after compensation 25679.01$
LOSS REDUCTION 72.89
LOSS REDUCTION % 32.46%

6. CONCLUSION

In this paper a two- stage method Loss sensitivity factor and Cuckoo search algorithm has been
successfully applied for capacitor placement. By the installation of shunt capacitor at the optimal position
there is a significant decrease in power loss, decrease in total annual cost and increase in voltage profile. So
the combination of both Loss sensitivity factor and Cuckoo algorithm yields good results.

7. REFERENCES

[1] Ponnavaiko M, Prakasa Rao KS. Optimal choice of fixed and switched shunt.
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