Location of FACTS devices for enhancing power systems' security

A stressed power system, either due to increased loading or due to severe contingencies, often lead to situations where the system no longer remains in the secure operating region. Under these situations, it is a primary objective of the operator to apply control action to bring the power system into a secure region. Any delay or unavailability of suitable control, and the system may become unstable. FACTS devices can play a very important role in power system security enhancement. Due to high capital investment, it is necessary to locate these devices optimally in the power system. In this paper, a suitable approach has been suggested based on the sensitivity analysis on FACTS device control parameters with respect to reduction in a real power flow performance index to enhance the security of the power system. The proposed approach has been illustrated on a sample system.