Siting and Sizing of Capacitors in RPDF Considering Load Variations: A Profit-Based Evaluation

Minimizing real and reactive power losses in Radial Power Distribution Feeders (RPDF) is crucial due to a sharp increase in load demand and investment point of view. About 7% of total US power generation is lost during transmission and distribution with RPDFs in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas contributing significantly. Integrating shunt capacitors in RPDFs can reduce reactive line current, lowering losses, and enhance bus voltage profiles to achieve financial profit (FP). This paper proposes a Dandelion Optimizer to optimize reactive power support in RPDFs. No sensitivity-based indices have been considered in this work to locate optimal buses for reactive power injection. Simulation has been carried out on renowned IEEE 34-bus RPDF and found that DO outperforms other methods in the literature in terms of minimizing real power loss, bus voltage enhancement, and increased FP.