Reactive power planning considering high penetration of wind energy

This paper addresses the optimal placement of reactive power (VAR) sources under the paradigm of a high penetration of wind energy. The reactive power planning (RPP) investment in this particular condition involves a high level of uncertainty due to the characteristics of wind power. The correlation between wind speeds of different wind farms should also be considered when there are multiple wind farms. To properly model wind generation uncertainty, a multi-scenario framework for optimal power flow that considers voltage stability constraints is developed. The objective of RPP is to minimize the total system cost (VAR cost and the expected generation cost). So, the RPP with these conditions optimizes the VAR location and size while minimizing the fuel cost and therefore finding the global optimal RPP results. The approach is based on two sets of variables (TSV) combined with the multi-scenario model. A case study is provided to verify the proposed method.