Optimal placement of photovoltaic generation and reactive power compensation for power grid stability using metaheuristic optimization

This study presents a multi-objective optimal power flow framework for the coordinated placement and sizing of photovoltaic distributed generation and reactive power compensation devices in meshed transmission networks. The proposed framework simultaneously minimizes operating cost, active and reactive power losses, voltage deviation, and voltage instability while maximizing photovoltaic utilization under system constraints. The Marine Predators Algorithm and Whale Optimization Algorithm are evaluated on the IEEE 30-bus transmission system under multiple integration scenarios. The results demonstrate that coordinated renewable generation and reactive power support significantly improve network performance. In the optimal configuration, active power losses are reduced from 9.4018 MW to 4.2336 MW, while transmission efficiency increases to 97.81%. Comparative analyses show that the Whale Optimization Algorithm provides superior optimization performance and improved voltage regulation in complex multi-device scenarios.