Application of Particle Swarm Optimization for Optimal Placement of Unified Power Flow Controllers in Electrical Systems with Line Outages

This paper proposes particle swarm optimization (PSO) for the optimal location and parameters of unified power flow controllers (UPFCs) in electrical power systems with line outages. The goal of the optimization technique is to maximize the loadability of transmission system using unified power flow controllers subject to the transmission line capacity limits and acceptable bus voltage levels, even during a line outage in the system. The proposed method optimizes the location of UPFCs and their parameters simultaneously. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been demonstrated on IEEE 30-bus system for two cases of single line outage and the results show the efficiency and robustness of PSO.