Slime Mould Algorithm for Practical Optimal Power Flow Solutions Incorporating Stochastic Wind Power and Static VAR Compensator Device

Abstract

Purpose. This paper proposes the application procedure of a new metaheuristic technique in a practical electrical power system to solve optimal power flow problems, this technique namely the slime mould algorithm (SMA) which is inspired by the swarming behavior and morphology of slime mould in nature. This study aims to test and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm to get good solutions for optimal power flow problems by incorporating stochastic wind power generation and static VAR compensators devices. In this context, different cases are considered in order to minimize the total generation cost, reduction of active power losses as well as improving voltage profile. Methodology. The objective function of our problem is considered to be the minimum the total costs of conventional power generation and stochastic wind power generation with satisfying the power system constraints. The stochastic wind power function considers the penalty cost due to the underestimation and the reserve cost due to the overestimation of available wind power. In this work, the function of Weibull probability density is used to model and characterize the distributions of wind speed. Practical value. The proposed algorithm was examined on the IEEE-30 bus system and a large Algerian electrical test system with 114 buses. In the cases with the objective is to minimize the conventional power generation, the achieved results in both of the testing power systems showed that the slime mould algorithm performs better than other existing optimization techniques. Additionally, the achieved results with incorporating the wind power and static VAR compensator devices illustrate the effectiveness and performances of the proposed algorithm compared to the ant lion optimizer algorithm in terms of convergence to the global optimal solution.