Capacitor placement in unbalanced radial distribution system for loss reduction

Abstract

Reduction of active power loss in distribution systems is very important to improve the overall efficiency of electrical power distribution systems. The active power loss due to reactive component of branch currents can be reduced by supplying part of the reactive power demands locally with the help of capacitors. This paper proposed a simple method for optimal placement and sizing of capacitor while minimizing power losses and improving the voltage profile in an unbalanced radial distribution system (URDS). The performance of the proposed method have been tested on two case studies 19-bus UBRS and 25-bus UBRS. It was found that a significant loss saving can be achieved by placing optimal capacitors in the system.