The impact of shunt capacitor size and location on power losses in radial distribution system

High power losses is produced in the distribution side as compared to another subsystem of the power system (transmission and generation). Installation of a shunt capacitor in the distribution is one of the alternative solution for power losses reduction. However, the non-optimal location and size of shunt capacitor may lead to the increment of losses. In order to reduce the power losses, the location and size of shunt capacitor are optimised simultaneously using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Different cases are carried out to observe the impact of the shunt capacitor placement. The result shows that the location of shunt capacitor influences the system power losses reduction. The shunt capacitor must be located near to the load. The optimal location and size of shunt capacitor is achieved efficiently using PSO algorithm. The study is tested on the 33-bus test system and is simulated by using MATLAB software