Optimal STATCOM Allocation Using Mixed Integer Distributed Ant Colony Optimization

This paper presents a novel optimization approach to find the optimal STATCOM installation in the power system using Mixed Integer Distributed Ant Colony optimization (MIDACO). The proposed method is mathematically formulated based on minimizing the Voltage Deviation Index (VDI) and the installation cost of STATCOM. The ability of STATCOM to provide shunt compensation to maintain bus voltage is exploited here. The proposed approach has been tested on the standard IEEE 14-bus system.