PSO-Based Voltage Control Strategy for Loadability Enhancement in Smart Power Grids

This paper proposes a new voltage control methodology using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique for smart grid loadability enhancement. The goal of this paper is to achieve reliable and efficient voltage profile/stability regulation in power grids. This methodology is based on the decouple power flow equations and the worst-case design technique. Specifically, the secondary voltage control (SVC) problem is formulated as an L-infinity norm minimization problem which considers overall load voltage deviations in electrical power systems as an objective model, and the PSO technique is employed to determine a robust control action which aims to improve voltage profile and to enlarge transmission grid loadability by optimal coordinated control of VAR sources. The methodology was successfully tested on several IEEE benchmark systems.