Optimal placement of capacitors in radial distribution system using a Fuzzy-GA method

The paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) based fuzzy multi-objective approach for determining the optimum values of fixed and switched shunt capacitors to improve the voltage profile and maximize the net savings in a radial distribution system. The two objectives, i.e. maximization of net savings and minimization of the nodes voltage deviation are first fuzzified and, then, dealt with by integrating them into a fuzzy satisfaction objective function through appropriate weighting factors. The optimization technique of the GA is then adopted to solve the fuzzy multi-objective problem for obtaining the optimum values of shunt capacitors. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated through an example. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.