A computer package for multi-contingency constrained reactive power planning

Reactive power planning or VAR planning is critical to ensure acceptable power quality and system robustness. While addressing var planning, the key issue is optimal allocation i.e. location and size of reactive power sources. Security of power systems is a major concern during contingencies. So, consideration of all plausible contingencies during planning process is important. However, consideration of such a large number of contingencies makes the problem size big hence complex to solve. This paper presents a computer package for solving multiple contingency constrained reactive power planning. To reduce the complexity of optimization problem due to consideration of multiple contingencies a new methodology is proposed, where the overall problem is solved in two phases. The optimization problem is formulated as Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming (MINLP) optimization problem, which is solved by the state of art solvers. Further the efficiency of integer optimization is increased by incorporating system based knowledge. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated using the 75 bus system.