Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch Considering the Penetration Level of Renewable Generation

Traditional energy conversion methods are being decommissioned because they cause environmental problems due to the production of harmful carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and many other pollutants they produce. They are being replaced by clean renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. These renewable energy sources are intermittent in nature and can cause varying reactive power circulating in the power system network. The amount of reactive power circulating in the power system network is determined by the transmission power loss. The main aim of this research paper is to investigate the effect of wind energy penetration level on the overall transmission power loss of a power system network. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used in this paper to optimize the transmission power losses in a system network with distributed renewable energy power generation. The optimization of the transmission power losses is achieved by solving optimal reactive power dispatch. The PSO algorithm is tested on standard IEEE 5-bus and 14-bus system networks and is validated using Newton Raphson method. Results show that the PSO algorithm performs better than the Newton Raphson method. The results also show that the penetration level of distributed generation in a power system network has a great effect on the transmission power losses.