African Vulture Optimization Algorithm for Simultaneous Placement and Sizing of Shunt Capacitors in Radial Distribution System

In electrical distribution networks, capacitor banks are widely used to regulate reactive power and enhance power factor. The efficient placement of capacitor banks offers numerous advantages, including minimizing power losses, increasing overall cost savings, and enhancing voltage profiles across feeders. Numerous optimization algorithms have been applied to determine the optimal size and allocation of capacitor banks within distribution networks. This study proposes a solution to the Optimal Capacitor Placement and Sizing (OCPS) problem using the African Vulture Optimization Algorithm (AVOA) that mimics the natural foraging and navigational behavior of African vultures. Employing the AVOA algorithm identifies the most suitable buses for capacitor allocation and efficiently determines ideal locations and sizes for capacitor banks. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated on the IEEE-33 and IEEE-69 bus Radial Distribution Systems (RDS) and compared with other available optimization techniques. The results indicated that implementing AVOA leads to improved overall performance, leading to a reduction in total cost and loss, improved voltage profile, energy savings, and net savings in dollars per year. The annual net savings for IEEE-33 and IEEE-69 buses are 32.22% and 33.24%, respectively.