A New Approach for Transmission Expansion Planning Considering UPFCs

This paper introduces a new method for implementing Unified Power Flow Controllers (UPFCs) in the static transmission expansion planning (TEP) problem. The optimization process in obtaining the suitable number and position of lines and UPFCs and adjustment of UPFCs” parameters will be carried out in two separate optimization levels. The first level suggests the appropriate numbers and positions of lines and UPFCs., and the second level deals with adjusting UPFCs parameters based on power loss reduction. With respect to the mixed integer non-linear nature of the TEP problem considering UPFCs., two meta-heuristic optimization algorithms are utilized for the two levels to reach the optimal solution. This study has implemented the proposed model on Garver 6-bus and IEEE 24-bus test systems. Under different scenarios., the obtained results confirm the efficacy of the introduced approach.