Power Loss Minimization in Transmission System using Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Unified Power Flow Controller

Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices have been identified as viable alternatives in power systems to address the shortcomings of the conventional solutions for mitigating poor bus voltages, high line losses, persistent outages among others. This work examines the effect of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) which is one of the versatile members of the FACTS family used for the minimization of power losses in a transmission system network via Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. The load flow analysis was performed using Gauss-Seidel method with the integration of PSO-based UPFC. Simulations were done in Python environment (version 3.7) using the Nigerian 330 kV, 34-bus power network as a test case. Simulation results revealed that line 5-10 was the optimal point for the placement of UPFC on the Nigerian 34-bus power network, and the voltage profile fell within the statutory limit with and without UPFC placed at the optimal point. The total active power loss reduced by 83.04 % with optimally placed UPFC, from 3943.10 to 668.60 MW, and the total reactive power loss reduced by 3.00 % with optimally placed UPFC, from 30012.40 to 29111.60 MVAr. The obtained results indicated that UPFC has the capacity to appreciably reduce system losses.