Abstract:
This thesis presents a developed method for solving a capacitor placement problem in a distribution system to reduce system power loss and to improve the system voltage profile. The nature of this issue falls in to an optimization problem. To reduce size of the problem, the sensitivity index and successive search are used to obtain a feasible sub-optimum solution. An hourly load, which reflects the actual daily load, is employed in this thesis. The developed method was tested with three systems modified from the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA). The tests used two different objective functions, i.e., maximization of the net cost saving from loss reduction, and minimization of the cost of energy loss plus the cost of the capacitor to be installed. Results of the study demonstrate that the developed method is very efficient in solving the capacitor placement problem.