Optimal Capacitor

Placement

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement

 Problem of Var Flow in
Power Systems
• Loads and delivery apparatus (e.g., lines
and transformers) are inductive in nature
• Most power systems operate at a lagging
power factor
• Resulting system capacity reduced, system
loss increased and system voltage
decreased

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 2
 Purposes of Shunt
Capacitor Applications
• Var support – Primary benefit for
transmission systems and secondary benefit
for distribution systems
• Voltage control – Primary benefit for both
transmission and distribution systems
• System capacity increase – Secondary
benefit for transmission systems and primary
benefit for distribution systems

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 3
 Purposes of Shunt
Capacitor Applications
• System power loss reduction – Secondary
benefit for transmission systems and primary
benefit for distribution systems
• Billing charge reduction – Not applied to
transmission systems but a primary benefit
for distribution systems

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 4
 General Process for Placing
Shunt Capacitors
• Determine bank size in kvar
• Determine connection location
• Determine a control method
• Determine a connection type (wye or delta)

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 5
 General Methods for
Capacitor Placement
• Rules of Thumb

• Power Flow
Based

• Optimal

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 6
 Optimal Capacitor
Placement in ETAP
• Genetic Algorithm - Use Genetic method to
find optimal (sub optimal) solution
• Expert System Initialization- Use power
system knowledge to find a good initial
solution

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 7
 Genetic Algorithm

• An optimization technique based on the

theory of nature selection
• An iterative procedure that maintains a
constant-size population of candidate
solutions
• Coding, initialization, fitness evaluation,
selection, crossover, mutation

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 8
 ETAP OCP Capabilities

• Find capacitor’s best location and bank size

• Minimize the total cost of installation and operation
• Handle radial or meshed balanced networks (PS
5.0)
• User selectable capacitor placement purpose
• Global or individual constraints

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 9
 ETAP OCP Capabilities

• Analysis capacitor control method and

review capacitor impact on the system with
load duration setting
• Speed and precision ratio control by users
• Determine available capacitor installation
locations by users

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 10
 ETAP OCP Capabilities

• Determine maximum capacitor size using

maximum load and determine switchblade
capacitor size using minimum load
• Use average or source energy cost
• Focus on saving during the whole planning
period

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 11
 Display Results

• LF results for maximum loads

• New capacitor locations and sizes

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 12
 Plot Results

• Loss reduction savings during the planning

period
• Capacitor operation cost during the planning
period
• Profit during the planning period

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 13
 Report Results

• Load Flow related reports

• Capacitor locations and sizes
• Load flow results for maximum, average and
minimum loads
• Branch capacity release

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 14
 Example

• Run NR Load Flow and look at bus voltages

(critical under voltage is set to 95% and
marginal under voltage is set to 98%)
• Switch to OCP mode and look at the study
case settings
• Run OCP and look at the voltage
improvements

© 1996-2009 Operation Technology, Inc. – Workshop Notes: Optimal Capacitor Placement Slide 15