A genetic algorithm based approach to the optimal reactive power dispatch considering the voltage dependency of loads

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) based approach to the optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem, considering the voltage dependency of electric loads. In this paper, a newly modified CA is proposed to search the global optimum of the ORPD problem, with specially designed operators, modified whole arithmetic crossover (MWAC), and modified non-uniform mutation (MNM). Also, in order to reflect the voltage dependency of loads in the ORPD problem, the voltage dependent load model (VDLM), expressed in quadratic form of the bus voltage magnitude, has been adopted. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated through various case studies using the IEEE 30-bus test system to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.