Review Paper on Optimal Capacitor Placement and Sizing in Distribution System using Optimization Techniques

Abstract— As the number of users corresponding to distribution system has been increasing but it also gives birth to various problems like capacitor placement in the network, reducing the power loss, balancing the voltage level. Capacitor is a device which is used for transferring the reactive power and the main focus or aim is to reduce the loss and to improve the voltage profile. In order to solve all these problems there is a requirement of proper planning regarding installation of distributed system. The problem of capacitor placement in electrical energy distribution system involves determining the number, position, type and size of capacitors located on the distribution feeder, the total cost of system installation and operation, system load. This study provides an overview to the distributed power system along with its basic concepts.

Keywords—Distributed power system, Capacitor placement, Load Flow

I. INTRODUCTION

Power distribution network is a collection of radial feeders which are inter-connected or grouped with each other by using various tie-switches and tie-lines. The critical issue of electric distribution system is power loss reduction in the grid system. Various methods are used optimal reconfiguration and capacitor placement is one of these techniques. Normally in all electrical distribution industries there are two types of loads resistive and inductive respectively. Resistive loads emit light as a result of being heated. In case of pure resistive load the parameters such as voltage (defined as V), resistance (defined as R), and current (defined as I) are linearly related to each other as follows: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) The inductive load is a type of A.C., motors, furnace, transformers and blast lights. The inductive load requires two types of power active and reactive power. Active power is used for processing and the reactive power is used for generating and maintaining the electro-magnetic fields in the system. The term used for measuring the active power is (kW) kilo Watts. Reactive power is measured in the terms of (kVar) kilo Volt-Amperes Reactive. In order to calculate the total used power the amount of active power used is added to the amount of reactive power used. Then the total power is used for performing the assigned task. The measure used for calculating the total power is (kVA) kilo Volts-Amperes. The following figure1 is drawn for the purpose of representing the relationship between these power types. The combination of these powers generates the apparent power which is denoted by S in the power system.
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