A GA based methodology for improving real-time voltage profile for large power grids

This paper describes a methodology for improving voltage profile for power transmission systems. Basically, it consists in tuning the transformers' taps in a way that the buses voltages in the same area would stay around the same level. This approach was built focusing Brazil's national integrated power system which is extremely regulated and centralized. This methodology uses a Genetic Algorithm (GA) with integer representation to search for taps sets that would lead the buses' voltages to a desired level (generally 1p:u:). This new research was first validated with IEEE 30 buses and IEEE 118 buses test cases and then, tuned to deal with large interconnected power grids. The results showed that the proposed methodology was able to achieve its goal in getting voltages closer to the desired value.