Hybrid evolutionaryheuristic algorithm for capacitor banks allocation

The issue of optimal allocation of capacitor banks concerning power losses minimization in distribution networks are considered in this paper. This optimization problem has been recently tackled by application of contemporary soft computing methods such as: genetic algorithms, neural networks, fuzzy logic, simulated annealing, ant colony methods, and hybrid methods. An evolutionaryheuristic method has been proposed for optimal capacitor allocation in radial distribution networks. An evolutionary method based on genetic algorithm is developed. The proposed method has a reduced number of parameters compared to the usual genetic algorithm. A heuristic stage is used for improving the optimal solution given by the evolutionary stage. A new cost-voltage node index is used in the heuristic stage in order to improve the quality of solution. The efficiency of the proposed two-stage method has been tested on different test networks. The quality of solution has been verified by comparison tests with other methods on the same test networks. The proposed method has given significantly better solutions for time dependent load in the 69-bus network than found in references. K e y w o r d s: capacitor allocation, radial distribution network, evolutionary method, heuristic method, optimization