OPTIMAL SIZING OF CAPACITORS IN RADIAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM USING IMPROVED HARMONY SEARCH ALGORITHM

The main aim of distribution system is to supply electricity to the consumers at nominal voltage with reduced loss in the distribution system. In order to achieve that, voltage profile should be maintained within safe limits. Due to load changes, maintaining a constant voltage profile is difficult. In order to improve the security, reliability and voltage profile, placement of shunt capacitor in different places of the distribution system becomes essential. These shunt capacitive compensators improve the load carrying capability of the system by controlling the reactive power flow. Installation of shunt capacitors in distribution networks requires consideration on the appropriate location and VAr rating of these capacitors. In this paper, the advanced version of harmony search algorithm called Improved Harmony Search algorithm (IHS) is used to determine the bus location and VAr rating of the capacitor. The capability of IHS to search the optimal bus location and VAr rating is tested on 33 bus radial distribution system. The results shows that there is a nearly 32% of loss reduction in system with promising voltage profile.