Ant colony optimization algorithm based optimal reactive power dispatch to improve voltage stability

To enhance the voltage stability of the power system, several traditional and Artificial Intelligence (Al) techniques have been proposed. This paper proposes a procedure using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) Algorithm for improving voltage stability in terms of system parameters enhancement and optimal reactive power dispatch with the objective of minimization of the sum of the squares of the L-index values of the load buses. The transformers tap changers, Generator exciters, switchable VAR (Volt Ampere Reactive) sources / Static VAR Compensators (SVC) are used as control variables for enhancement of system parameters and hence voltage stability of power system. The developed ACO Algorithm is tested on an IEEE Equivalent practical southern-region Indian 24-bus power system. The performance of ACO is presented and simulation results are compared with those obtained from conventional Linear Programming (LP) method for understanding and illustration purpose.