System approach to shunt capacitor allocation in radial distribution systems

This paper presents a system approach to shunt capacitor placement on distribution systems under capacitor switching constraints. The optimum capacitor allocation solution is found for the system of feeders fed through their transformer and not for any individual feeder. The main benefits due to capacitor installation, such as system capacity release and reduction of overall power and energy losses are considered. The capacitor allocation constraints due to capacitor-switching transients are taken into account. These constraints are extremely important if pole-mounted capacitors are used together with a substation capacitor bank. A genetic algorithm is used as an optimization tool. An illustrative example is presented. The algorithm is currently in use in the Israel Electric Corporation (IECo). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.