A heuristic and algorithmic approach to VAR planning

The authors present a knowledge- and algorithm-based approach to voltampere-reactive (VAr) planning in a transmission system. The VAr planning problem involves the determination of locations and sizes of new compensators considering contingencies and voltage collapse problems in a power system. An expert system model analyzes the operating conditions of a power system and suggests one or more of the P-V, Q-V and S-V (S denotes the system complex power) curves for use in assessing the voltage collapse problem. A second expert system module suggests control actions with the existing VAr controllers and sizes and locations for the installation of new compensators. The IEEE 30-bus system was used to demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach.>