Application of Loss Sensitivity Factor and Genetic Algorithm for Capacitor Placement for Minimum Loss in radial Distribution System

Capacitors are widely used in distribution systems to reduce power losses, improve voltage profile and increase system capacity. The benefits of compensation depend greatly on the placement and size of the added capacitors. This paper presents a new methodology using Loss Sensitivity Factor (LSF) method and Genetic Algorithm (GA) for the placement of capacitors on the primary feeders of the radial distribution systems to reduce the power losses and to improve the voltage profile. A two-stage methodology is used for the optimal capacitor placement problem. In the first stage, LSF approach is used to find the optimal capacitor locations and in the second stage, Genetic Algorithm is used to find the sizes of the capacitors. The sizes of the capacitors corresponding to minimum real power loss are determined. The proposed method is tested on IEEE 15-bus, 34-bus and 69-bus test systems and the results are presented.