2010 International Conference on Electrical and Control Engineering

Optimal Reactive Power Planning Based on Improved Tabu Search Algorithm

Zou yiqin
School of Electronic Engineering Changzhou Institute of Technology
Abstract: In this paper, an improved Tabu search method is proposed and applied to reactive power optimization planning in power systems .The improvement is done mainly by changing the way that the initial value is generated, and by adding sensitivity analysis and expert knowledge to Tabu search process. The minimum sum of active power loss and the cost of reactive equipment are used as the objective function of reactive power planning. Three different load operation conditions, namely heavy, normal and light, are considered to decompose the reactive power planning into three sub-problems. The active power loss in one year is used to coordinate the three operation conditions. The statistic results of the reactive power optimization planning of a power system in a certain area demonstrate that the improved TS algorithm is more stable and reliable and faster than simple TS method in finding global optimal solution. Keywords: Power system, Reactive power optimization planning, Tabu search, Decomposition and coordination algorithm

Changzhou, China tradition mathematic planning because of their abilities of global optimal search. Some good results are reached since the intelligence methods are applied in optimal power planning; these methods can get better results than mathematical planning in some degree. THE MATHEMATIC MODEL OF OPTIMAL REACTIVE POWER PLANNING A. The mathematic model of optimal reactive power We take the minimum network energy loss as the target
f = PL (V , )
1

In

the

formula,

the

network

energy

loss

PL (V , ) can get through calculation of power flow.

The power restriction equation, namely the power flow equation, is shown in formula 2
Pi = Vi V j Gij cos ij + Bij sin ij j i NB Qi = Vi V j Gij sin ij Bij cos ij j i

INTRODUCTION The purpose of optimal reactive power planning is to decrease as far as possible the energy loss rate of a network at reasonable voltage, thus to decrease the electric power loss in a period of time. Optimal reactive power planning determines where to add reactive power compensation equipments and the amount of each place; the aim of the planning is to minimize the sum of the electric power waste expenses and the newly invested compensation equipments in a period of time. The main control methods include the regulating of the voltage of generator, the regulating of the tap of OLTC on load tap-changedtransformer, the inputting and cutting of the parallel capacitors and reactors etc. How to make full use of reactive regulate means, improve voltage quality, reduce total system expenses, and is meaningful both in theory and in practice. Optimal reactive power planning is a problem that belongs to complicated mixed integral non-linear planning. The artificial intelligence method is applied to optimal reactive power planning in recent years, and researchers have already proven that the intelligence algorithm can overcome the disadvantages of the tradition optimal algorithms. These intelligence methods include the genetic algorithm, the evolve optimal algorithm, the simulated annealing expert system, the Tabu search algorithm etc... For the intelligence search algorithms like genetic algorithm, the simulated annealing algorithm, and the Tabu search algorithm, there is basically no restrictive assumption like continuous, the existence of derivative, and single peak for the search space. They can offset the shortcoming of
978-0-7695-4031-3/10 $26.00 2010 IEEE DOI 10.1109/iCECE.2010.961 3945

) )

In formula 2, Pi , Qi ,Vi are active power, reactive power and voltage inputted in the i node respectively, GijBij
ij

are conductance , susceptance and phase

angle difference between node i and node j respectively. The variable restriction equation is listed in formula 3.
K T min K T K T max 0 Qc Qc max VL min VL VL max VG min VG VG max S L S L max (3)

In formula 3, KTQCVG are control variables to express the taps to adjust transformer ratio, compensation capacity and generator terminal voltage respectively, VL is the voltage of load node, SL is the power passing the branches ,they are state variables. The optimal reactive power planning is to find the position of tap and the configuration of reactive power compensation equipments such that the object function is the minimum when restrict formula 2 and formula 3 are satisfied. B The mathematic model of optimal reactive power

planning The object function of optimal reactive power planning consists of the running expenses C1(Ploss) and investment expenses C2(QC,Ql).We assume that optimal reactive power planning is done on the basis that the active power flow of the planed network is already allocated well, so the running expenses are the cost of network energy loss of power system. Investment is the year value amounted to newly added reactive compensation equipments. So the optimal reactive power planning is actually a way to get the minimum of the object function, while satisfy the equality and the inequality restriction of system running and investment limitations, the mathematic model is:
min

0 Qc K T min KT KT max QG min QG QG max VL min VL VL max VG min VG VG max S L SL max

(5)

F = C1 (Ploss ) + C2 (Qc ,Ql ) C1 (Ploss ) = K Plossi Ti

i =1 l

When load is heavy, the general electric voltage level is lower, so if capacitive reactive compensation is not enough under the great modes, new capacity compensation may be added. The QC in formula 5 is compensation capacity of node, including the original compensation and the newly added compensation. Only the running expense is considered under medium modes, the object function is min F = C1 ( Ploss 2 ) = K Ploss 2 T2 Constraint condition is listed in formula 2 and formula3 Small modes model:
nl r (1 + r ) m min F = K Ploss 3 T3 + Q C li li ( 1 + r)m 1 i =1

C2 (Qc , Ql ) = Qci C ci + Qli C li

i =1
i =1

nc

nl

r (1 + r ) m (1 + r ) m 1

Restriction condition: equality restriction is shown in formula 2inequality restriction is shown in formula 4
K T min K T K T max VG min VG VG max VL min VL VL max QG min QG QG max S L S L max (4)

Restriction condition: equality restriction is shown in formula 2, inequality restriction in formula 6

0 Ql 0 Q Q c c max KT min KT KT max VGmin VG VGmax V V V . L min L Lmax QGmin QG QGmax SL SLmax

In the formula, Plossi is active power loss , i is load level, i=1,2,3,,l, Ti is the corresponding loss time, K is power price of system; Cci and Cli are the investing coefficient of unit capacitive and the induction reactive compensation equipment, respectively, nc and nl are the number of new added capacitive and induction reactive compensation spot, r is discount rate, m is the equipment economic life; KT and VG are the taps to adjust transformer ratio and generator terminal voltage, they are control variables; VLQGSL is the voltage of load node, the generator reactive output power, and the power passed branching-off respectively, they are state variables. The planning problem is a multi-target optimal problem, and is very hard to solve it directly. Based on the engineering experience, such problem can be divided into sub-problems of different loads and solved separately. We can consider several load modes here, namely great modes, medium modes and small modes or heavy modes, normal modes, and light modes. Great modes model:
nc r (1 + r ) m min F = K Ploss1 T1 + Q C ci ci ( 1 + r)m 1 i =1

The general voltage level is higher while load is light, if the voltages in some nodes exceed the high limit, reactance compensation may be added at these nodes, the quantity of capacity compensate can not exceed the original compensation quantity. After decomposing the planning problem, we can solve the optimal problem of each sub-model, which is done through the search-based artificial intelligence algorithm. We propose the improved Tabu search algorithm based on the traditional one, and solve the optimizing problem in power systems. . Improved Tabu search algorithm for reactive power optimization A. The disadvantages of simple Tabu search algorithm The initial solution of TS (Tabu Search) algorithm is randomly generated. Suppose there is optimization computing of 100 times, and there will be 100 different initial solutions. TS algorithm is a single-point search algorithm; its optimal solution depends highly on initial solution, so the difference between the initial solutions will lead to the difference in final solution. If the initial solution is not good, the optimization results might be far from satisfaction, the value of the object function may not decrease but increase instead. B. Step of improved Tabu search algorithm in reactive

Restriction condition: equality restriction is shown in formula 2 and inequality restriction is shown in formula 5

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power optimization (1) read the original data and decode the control variables: The power system data includes flow calculation data, the description of control variables and conditions of various constraints, TS parameters include Tabu list size, the maximum allowable number of iterations, and continuous control variables, but continuous control variables (generator terminal voltage) must be discretized properly before they can be turned into decimal codes;

The power grid in the region has 137 nodes, 162 branches, 54 loads and 39 OLTC transformers, 40 nodes have capacity compensators, the terminal voltage of three generators is adjustable, the terminal voltage of generators varies between 1.0 and 1.1, and discretized into 10 stalls, so all the control variables are turned into discrete variables, so that reactive power optimization planning of power grid in this area is a typical combinational optimization problem. b Results of simple Tabu search algorithm The Optimized objective function is the energy loss of power network. The parameters of TS method are as follows: The number of test solution is 80; the scale of tabu table is 60. The number of iteration time is the convergence criterion; here we set the largest number of iteration time to be 50. The statistic result of 100 optimizations using simple TS method in this region is shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 MT /mi n RESULT OF 100 OPTIMIZATIONS USING SIMPLE TS METHOD Network energy loss decreased the rate of/% maxim um 25.6 minim um -28.0 avera ge 18.4 Network energy loss increased by the number of 4 Vmin<0.95p. u. the number of times 12

(2) generate an initial solution: set the iteration times to 1, randomly generate a series of random solution within the restriction of control variables, do the flow calculation separately and get the value of object function corresponding to different solutions, pick the best solution as the initial iteration solution X0 and do power flow calculation, check if the flow result exceeds voltage limit, if so, adjust the solution to X based on the sensitivity analysis and the expert knowledge, do flow calculation again., the value of objective function is f (X), Set the best solution vector X opt = f (X); (3) Generate a group of test solutions: make single movement and exchange movement on X, get a set of feasible test solution X 1, X 2, ..., XK, and get the corresponding f (X 1), f ( X 2), ..., f (XK); (4) Search neighborhood: find the best solution X * from the test solution, if X * is not in Tabu table, or if X * in the Tabu table, but it meets the release criteria, then updates X with X *, if the solution X * is in the Tabu table, while X * does not meet the release criteria, then find the second best solution, and repeat the process; (5) Update Tabu table: the movement will achieve the opposite direction of the movement recorded in Tabu table, if the Tabu table is full, then exclude the first record from movement; (6) Update Xopt: if f (X ) <f (Xopt), then use X update Xopt, otherwise the Xopt remain unchanged; (7) Determine the termination condition: If the maximum allowed iteration time is reached, stop the optimization and output the results; Otherwise, iterate one more time and go to Step (3) to continue iteration, make voltage adjustment to the best solution of one generation based on the voltage at intervals of several generations in the iteration process, adjust reactive power compensation based on sensitivity, adjust OLTC transformer tap based on expert knowledge. SIMULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS A. Results of improved Tabu Search algorithm
* *

3.8

c Result of the improved algorithm The way in which the initial value is generated is updated here; the sensitivity and the expert knowledge are used to regulate the amount of reactive power compensation and on-load tap-changed transformer tap. The maximum iteration time is set to 40; the statistic result after 100 optimization is listed in table 2.
TABLE 2 MT /mi n STATISTIC RESULT OF IMPROVED TS METHOD Decreasing rate of network energy loss /% maxi mum 3.3 25.5 minim um 20.0 avera ge 23.1 Increasing rate of Network energy loss 0 Times when Vmin<0.95 p.u. 0

As we can find in table 2, the time used in improved TS method is shortening, and that the voltage quality is improved distinctly, there are no values that exceed minimum voltage among 100 optimization processes.
0.55

0.5 Power metwork loss

In the experiment, C programming language is used to implement the improved TS algorithm and the simple TS algorithm for reactive power optimization calculations, the fast decoupled power flow calculation is adapted, the convergence precision is set to 10-4 , the advantage of improved TS algorithm over simple TS algorithm is embodied through optimization calculation of 100 times. a Example of power network

0.45

0.4

0.35

0.3 Simple TS method 0.25 Improved TS method 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0.2 0

Number of iterations

Figure 1

The iteration curves of improved TS method and simple TS method

The iteration curves of Improved TS method and

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simple TS method are illustrated in Figure 1 As can be seen from Figure 1, the objective function of improved TS method is lower than that of simple counterpart in the whole iteration process, only that the objective function of improve TS method decreases slower, the reason for this is that the objective function of initial solution is already very lower, so it is hard to get a fast iteration decrease. Also we can see from figure 1 that the optimization result of improved TS method is always better than that of simple TS method for any iteration times, furthermore, the decreasing rate of simple TS method becomes slow after the iteration time reaches a certain value. Still we can see from the figure that if the solution quality of both methods is equal, the iteration time of improved TS method is less than that of simple TS method; also, it costs less CPU time, so the improved TS method has better on-line application prospects B. The improved coordination method Improved coordination method also takes into account three kinds of load modes, in each mode, the allocation of running time, the compensation of capacitance and reactance, and the annual power loss are the same as that of the simple TS method, only the convergence criteria and coordination method are different. We set the coordination times to be 15 , that is, k max = 15, use the memory strategy to record the lowest energy loss of power network in various modes during the coordination process and its corresponding solution, and take the final solution as the coordination solution in the end. This can not only ensure the coordination time and reliable convergence, but also can ensure the optimized results, that is, relatively good results can be achieved in an acceptable period of time. The optimized result of using improved coordination algorithm in power grid of this region is shown in Table 3.
TABLE 3 OPTIMIZED PLANNING RESULT OF IMPROVED COORDINATION ALGORITHM
Medium modes Networ Vmin -k loss /p.u. /MW Small modes Netwo Vmin -rk /p.u. energ y loss /MW Annual operating costs / Million yuan Annual investment/ Million yuan 0 Annual earning s/ Million yuan 0

account the large, medium and small load modes, uses the annual power loss as the coordination factor, adds a number of coordination guidelines, so as to propose the improved coordination algorithm. All optimization calculations use the improved TS method. By doing a lot of reactive power optimization and optimal planning test, we can draw a conclusion that: (1) Compared with simple TS algorithm, the improved TS algorithm has a unique advantage of jumping out of the local optimal solution, its convergence and solution quality are better than that of the simple TS method. The improved TS method changes the way the initial solution is generated, uses sensitive information and expert knowledge to guide the search process, and gets the stable optimization results, the decreasing rate of energy loss power network is satisfactory while the voltage quality remains good. (2) The improved coordination algorithm, it can take into account multiple load modes, the result of it is more accurate and more representational, and the calculation time is short. (3) The planning in this paper is done using the improved coordination algorithm; the optimal search for each sub-problem is implemented using the improved Tabu search, so the result of planning is optimal. REFERENCES
[1].Bland J.A., Dawson G.P., Tabu search and design optimization, Computer-aided design, 1991; 23(3):195-201 [2].Mamandur K R C.Chenoweth R D Optimal Control of Reactive Power Flow for Improvement in Voltage Profiles and for Real Power Loss Minimization 1981(7) [3].Borozan V.Baran M E.Novosel D Integrated Volt/Var Control in Distribution Systems 2001 4.Hu Z.Wang X.Chen H Volt/Var Control in Distribution Systems Using a Time-interval Based Approach 2003(5) [4].Imad MNejdawiKevinAClementsand Paul WDavis An Efficient Interior Point Method for Sequential Quadratic Programming Based Optimal Power FlowIEEE Transon Power System200015(4)1179-1183 [5].GeraldoL Torres and Victor H Quintana On a Nonlinear Multiple Centrality Corrections Interior Point Method for Optimal Power Flow IEEE TransOn Power System200116(2)288291 [6].Katia C Almeida and Roberto Salgado Optimal PowerFlow Solutions UnderVariable Load ConditionsIEEE TramOn Power System200015(4)1204-1211 [7].Fan M Zhang Z Lin C E Discrete Var Optimization in a Distribution System Using MixedInter Programming with an Epert SystemElectric Power System Research1993(23)191201 [8].Jin-Cheng WangGary DarlingCapacitor Placement and Real Time Control in Large-Scale Unbalanced Distribution SystemsLoss Reduction FormulaProblem Formulation Solution Methodology and Mathematical Justification IEEE Transactionson Power Delivery1997(4)953958 [9].KHAbdul-RahmanSMShahidehpourMDaneshdoost An Approach to Optimal Var Control with Fuzzy Reactive Loads IEEE Transactions on Power Systems199510(1)8897 [10].A T Saric M S Calocic Fuzzy IEE Proe GenerTransmDistribOptimization of Capacitors in Distribution Systems19971 44(5)415--422

Great modes Network Vmin/p. u. energy loss/ MW PreOp -timal Planni -ng After the optima -l planning

35.33 93

0.84

28.906 1

0.87

23.27 97

0.89

7649.5

26.58 49

1.01

21.966 7

1.00

18.22 63

1.03

5830.5 2

13.1

1805 .9

CONCLUSION Tabu search algorithm and an improved TS method are applied to Reactive Power Optimization of Power System and Optimal Reactive Power Planning in this paper, the improved TS method has a strong ability of optimal search. The Optimal Reactive Power Planning takes the minimum sum of the annual cost of power losses and the investment of reactive power without compensation as the objective function, takes into

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