Application of fuzzy logic for reactive-power compensation of radial distribution feeders

The authors introduce a new algorithm to determine the exact optimal solution for capacitor allocation in radial distribution feeders. Results of previous work using fuzzy and heuristic strategies on this feeder are compared with the exact reference solution. The effect of varying some parameters in the membership functions to obtain better results is discussed. Also, the effect of selection of parameters that should be used in the fuzzy modeling is investigated. The advantages of fuzzy and heuristic methods presented are combined in a new fuzzy-heuristic idea. This combined technique is verified by the application to test feeders to give better results. Different fuzzy decision-making forms are applied to the fuzzy modeling problem. Finally, a recommendation is made for the most efficient way to get a solution equal or very close to the optimal.