Optimal PMUs placement for full observability of electrical power systems using flower pollination algorithm

This paper presents a novel optimization method called flower pollination algorithm to solve the optimal placement problem of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in electrical power systems for achieving full system observability. PMU is considered as a one of the most important measuring devices used for improving state estimation of power system. This problem aims to minimize the number of PMUs to achieve full system observability and maximizing measurement redundancy at system buses. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed optimization method has been tested on the IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 30-bus, IEEE 57-bus, IEEE 118-bus test systems, New England 39-bus and Canal Network 49-bus and Western Delta Network 52-bus at Egypt. The results obtained by the proposed method are compared with other optimization methods such as binary particle swarm optimization method, greedy algorithm, single vertex and binary integer linear programming.