Optimal location of FACTS devices for congestion management and loadability enhancement

Abstract

Due to the growth of electricity demands and transactions in power markets, existing power networks need to be enhanced in order to increase their loadability. Two types of FACTS devices, SVC and TCSC, can be installed on buses and transmission lines to relieve congestion and enhance the loadability of power systems, respectively through injecting reactive power and changing line reactance. Proper location of SVC and TCSC is a key to maximize loadability. In this paper, the eigenvalue structure analysis combined with min-cut algorithm has been proposed to determine optimal location of SVC and TCSC. Transmission system loadability enhancement using FACTS requires a two-step approach. First, the optimal location of the FACTS in the network must be ascertained and then, the continuation power flow programming (CPF) with fixed FACTS parameters is solved. Study results on IEEE 14-, IEEE 30- and IEEE 118 bus system show that the proposed method is capable of finding the best location for FACTS installation to relieve congestion and enhance the loadability.