Optimal Placement of Renewable Distributed Generation and Capacitor Bank to Minimize Losses with Particle Swarm Optimization

Power loss is an important aspect of the power system that must be kept as low as possible. The optimal siting and sizing of distributed generation (DG) and shunt capacitor at distribution networks for the purpose of minimizing real power loss is attracting a lot of attention from electric power utilities these days. DG is expected to play an important role in the power system's residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Traditional electricity sources can be replaced with DG, which can also be used to improve the current electrical system. Capacitor bank and DG combined will improve system performance even further. This paper presents a method based on an analytical approach for optimal allocation (sizing and siting) of DG and capacitor bank to reduce overall real power losses in the distribution network subject to equality and inequality constraints. It is common practice to reduce power losses and improve the voltage profile of a distribution system by placing DG and capacitors in the best possible locations. For this research, the IEEE-33 and IEEE-69 bus systems are used. A backward-forward sweep load flow analysis will be performed using MATLAB software to investigate power losses and voltage magnitude. Particle swarm optimization was used to optimize the placement of the DG and capacitors in this project to achieve the lowest possible power losses. The research demonstrates that the proposed method effectively reduces real power losses in the distribution network. The optimized allocation of DG and capacitors resulted in improved voltage profiles and minimized power losses.