PSO based approach for optimum fault current limiter placement in power system

Power system is getting complex due to an increase of the number of new power plants and the expansion of transmission system in order to meet the growing for electricity. This scenario results in a large number of short circuits in the system, which may exceed the rating of existing circuit breakers and may severely damage system equipment. Installing fault current limiters (FCLs) into the power system is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce fault current levels. This paper presents a method to determine the optimum numbers and locations for FCLs placement in terms of installing the smallest FCL parameters to restrain short-circuit currents below the interrupting currents of circuit breakers, to minimize transmission loss and to keep the voltages of any buses in their allowable limits. In the proposed approach, particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is employed to search for the best location and parameter of FCLs to meet the specific requirements. The proposed method is applied on the IEEE 39-bus test system. Simulation results demonstrated the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.