A novel reactive power planning method based on improved particle swarm optimization with static voltage stability

A reactive power planning method based on improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) is presented. This method can improve the quality of initial particles and eliminate the boundary oscillation in traditional particle swarm optimization. The voltage stability margin index (VSI) is used to rank the load buses. Then reactive power compensators are installed on the buses with weak voltage stability. The maximization of voltage stability margin is included in the objective function of reactive power planning to improve system voltage stability. Its application in IEEE 30‐bus system illustrates that the real power loss is depressed with voltage stability margins increased simultaneously. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.