Optimization of Capacitor Allocation for Operational

Planning of Distribution Networks using Linear

Programming and Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System
Alexandre Augusto Angelo de Souza, Carlos Csar
Barioni de Oliveira
Polytechnic School of the University of Sao Paulo
University of Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil
alexandre.souza@copel.com, barioni@pea.usp.br
Abstract This paper presents the development of a
mathematical model applied to medium voltage electrical
network planning to give support for capacitor placement
decision task. For this goal, a linear mathematical model was
developed to determine the location and power of the capacitor to
improve the voltage level of the electrical system. The proposed
model has linear objective function, linear constraints,
continuous and binary variables, being represented by a mixed
integer linear programming. The objective function to be
minimized includes operational costs of installation, affected
consumers and voltage constraints. These constraints are
important to reduce the search space of the optimization
procedure. In order to evaluate voltage level, the model includes
a power flow method based on constant current. The qualitative
variables in the objective function are modeled with a fuzzy
system, addressing the impacts of applying capacitor related to
consumers and network quality indicators.
Keywords: Distribution network planning, linear programming,
capacitor placement, fuzzy systems.

I. INTRODUCTION
Operational planning of power distribution feeders
requires a considered effort for operation and design of
affected feeders. Studies in this area demand a higher level of
human intervention for applying all the alternatives that can be
addressed to solve the problem. The investments in the
medium voltage networks consist of a significantly percent of
the budget available for interventions. The high costs of
investments and operations, combining the fact that in this
network section is connected a large amount of consumers,
gives a special importance for operational planning of power
distribution feeders. Besides financial saving, an adequate
planning can provide an improvement of qualities indices such
as voltage control and network reliability. The nature of the
operational planning problem is combinatorial and must
consider the topology of the network and load distribution in
the feeders. A common solution applied for voltage and losses
correction is installation of capacitors in the network,
allocating capacitors allows a better management of reactive
power, bringing benefits like electrical losses reduction and a
better level of voltage. Computational techniques for capacitor
placement in distribution systems, have been extensively

Klaus de Geus
Center of Studies in Civil Engineering
Federal University of Parana
Curitiba, Brazil
klaus@copel.com

researched, some of those are describe in these publications: i)

analytic methods [1]; ii) heuristic methods [2], iii) genetic
algorithms [3] and iv) hybrid methods [4]. Before 1950,
capacitor allocation studies only consider the installation in
the substation, the concept of installing capacitor alongside the
feeders showed as a better solution. However, the complexity
increased considering the amount of possible connection
nodes and size of capacitors. In Neagle and Samson[5], is
considered the installation of capacitors alongside the feeders,
the load distribution is considered uniform in the feeder to
simplify the study. Duran [6], the problem is modeled using a
dynamic programming approach, considering a multi stage
optimization process. Chang [7] developed a mathematical
analysis of shunt capacitor application for losses reduce.
General equations for calculating losses reduction in a feeder
with a large amount of loads combinations are settled.
Analytical methods for capacitor allocating are presented by
Bae[8], these methods are based on Neagle and Sansom[5]
studies. Bae investigated capacitor application in a wide
variety of reactive loads. The methodology is used to
determine the optimal place location of capacitor for all load
levels over a fixed value. Kaplan[9], presents a solution not
considering all the simplifications used by the others models.
The main differences are: i) Loads do not have an uniform
distribution in the feeder; ii) Installation costs are considered;
iii) Possibility of capacitor installation in any part of the
feeder. Many studies were developed using Artificial
Intelligence (AI), in Chiang et al. [10] is presented a
formulation considering practical aspects of capacitor and
loads constraints. In this article the problem is formulated with
a non-differentiability objective function. A simulated
annealing is used to define the location, size and type of the
capacitors. Yang et al. [11] presented an approach using Tabu
Search for determining the location place, types, reactive
power and the amount of capacitors. An hybrid solution is
presented by Miu et al.[12], using an algorithm with two
stages for location, reallocation and capacitor control. The first
stage of the proposal algorithm consists of a genetic algorithm
follow by the second stage which consists of a heurist method
based on sensibilities constructed for the problem.

978-1-4244-8782-0/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

II. MEDIUM-VOLTAGE NETWORK MODEL

This section describes the mathematical model, based on
mixed-integer linear programming, used to obtain the capacitor
placement. The proposed model has linear objective function,
linear constraints, continuous variables, and binary variables,
being represented by a mixed integer linear programming.
A. Proposed Model for Capacitor Placement
The general capacitor placement problem consists of
determining the locations to install capacitors, types and their
sizes. The objective function minimizes the cost of capacitor
installation, the penalization value of voltage level violation
when applied and costs related for practical application of the
solutions. A Fuzzy modeling was used to contemplate
practical issues such distance of point location for installing
capacitor, amount of operations in the network and number of
consumers that will be affected. The Fuzzy Set Theory was
introduced by Zadeh[13] which is a generalization of
Conventional Set Theory. Fuzzy permits represent imprecise
knowledge and the data structure used is modeled and
resolved in a natural way of a large kind of real world
problems.

Accumulated current pole i phase f

Voltage drop pole i phase f with cable
type c
Final voltage drop pole i phase f with
cable type c
Final voltage value pole i phase f
Base impedance
Base power

ZBase
SBase

Variables

0,1
Proposed Capacitor at pole i of type j
0, 1 Ajusted voltage
0, 1 Voltage relaxation

Constraints
i) Each pole can have only one type of capacitor:

(2)

ii) Minimum voltage level per pole:

a) Current and drop voltage per pole:
1000

(3)
,

B. Objective Function

1000

The objective function (equation 1) consists in the cost

minimization of capacitor installation. The first term (a)
considers the installation cost, second term (b) minimizes the
voltage drop, third term (c) minimizes the violation variable of
voltage drop and the last term (d) represents the costs modeled
by fuzzy system.

(4)

Capacitors
(5)

(1)

|
(6)

10

0.001

(7)
,

|
(8)

Sets
Poles
Phase
Capacitors

{1..np}
{1..3}

Poles
Phases A, B e C
Standard Capacitor

|
(9)

Parameters
kW at pole i, phase f
kVar at pole i, phase f
Installation cost of capacitor at pole i of
type j
Resistance of installed cable between

poles i and j ()
Reactance of installed cable between
poles i and j ()
Connection between poles, index of pole
source of pole j
Current pole i phase f
Current pole i phase f
Accumulated current pole i phase f

|
(10)

(11)

a)

Final voltage of each pole must be higher than a

parameter defined in the study. A relaxation variable
is used to allow solutions that have a minimum
violation of the voltage constraint.
1

(12)
,
1
,

Figure 2 Affected consumers

b) Distance: Necessary distance from the substation to

proposed point of capacitor allocation. This variable has
three predicates represented by triangular pertinence
functions normalized between 0 and 1. The variables are
shown in figure 3.

(13)
(14)

,
Figure 3 Distance

(15)

c)
III.

FUZZY MODELING

The fuzzy system developed represents the operational cost

and have three input variables (affected consumers, distance e
amount of operations) and one output variable (operational
cost). A Mamdani inference machine includes interface
modules that translate input numeric variables to fuzzy
variables and, afterward, fuzzy output variables to numeric. In
figure 1 is shown a general visualization of the fuzzy system
developed.

Operations: Describe the amount of operations in the

network for allocation the capacitors indicated in the
study. This variable has three predicates represented by
triangular pertinence functions normalized between 0 and
1. The variables are shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 Amount of operations

B. Output variable
The output variable (operational cost) deals with the
amount of affected consumers, distance of point of capacitor
installation from the substation and the amount of operations
to allow the installation. This variable has five predicates
represented by triangular pertinence functions normalized
between 0 and 1. The variables are shown in figure 5.
Figure 1 Fuzzy system

A. Input variables

a) Affected consumers: Amount of consumers that will be

turned off, each cable of the feeder contains the number

of affected consumers. This variable has three predicates
represented by triangular pertinence functions normalized
between 0 and 1. The variables are shown in figure 2.

Figure 5 Operational cost

IV.

RESULTS

The proposed optimization approach was applied to the

electrical distribution system showed in figure 6. The feeder
has 302 nodes and provides energy for 3400 residential and

991 commercial consumers. The medium calculated current is

272 A, operating with a 13,8 kV and a minimum voltage of
0,91 pu. For this evaluation a value of 0,97 pu is defined as the
the minimum voltage accepted for the feeder. The capacitor
cost is shown in table 1.

V.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed method optimizes the capacitor allocation

based on a linear model considering voltage drop constraint
and costs of installation and operation. The fuzzification of
linguistic variables provided a better accuracy related to
operational costs. The mathematical model were developed
and tested using the free solver GNU LP/MILP Solver Kit
(GLPK), which is computationally simple as it does not
require complicated transformations. Our investigation of test
systems reveals that this approach is proper and the results
look promising.
REFERENCES
[1] N. M. Neagle, and D. R. Samson.Loss reduction from capacitors installed
on primary feeders, AIEE Trans 75, pp. 950959, 1956.
[2] M. H. Haque. Capacitor placement in radial distribution systems for loss
reduction, IEE Proceedings Generation, Transmission and Distribution, pp.
501505. 1999.
[2] B. Milosevic and M. Begovic, Capacitor placement for conservative
voltage reduction on distribution feeders, IEEE Transactions on Power.
Delivery, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 1360 1367, Jul. 2004.

Figure 6 Primary feeder

TABLE 1: CAPACITOR COST
Type

Installation cost
(R$)

300 kVar
600 kVar
900 kVar
1200 kVar
1500 kVar

3070
3500
5600
8200
10200

Executing the optimization model the final voltage was 0,972

pu with a installation of one unity of 300 kVAr. The capacitor
position is identified in figure 7 as a black dot within a circle.

[4] S. N. Kim, S. K. You, K. H. Kim, S. B. Rhee.Application of esga hybrid

approach for voltage profile improvement by capacitor placement, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 18, pp. 1865-1872, 2003.
[5] Neagle, N. M., Samson, D. R.: Loss Reduction From Capacitors installed
on Primary Feeders, [AIEEET], vol. PAS75, part III, pp. 950959, 1956.
[6] Duran, H.: Optimum Number, Location, and Size of Shunt Capacitors in
Radial Distribution Feeders A Dynamic Programming Approach, [ITPAS],
vol. PAS 87, no. 9, pp. 1769 1774, Sept. 1968.
[7] Chang, N. E.: Optimum Allocation of Shunt Capacitors and Voltage
Regulators on Primary Feeders, apresentado no IEEE Winter Power Meeting,
New York, N.Y., Jan. 29Feb. 3, 1967.
[8] Bae, Y. G.: Analytical Methods of Capacitor Allocation on Distribution
Primary Feeders, Em [ITPAS], vol. PAS97, no. 4, pp. 12321238, July/Aug.
1978.
[9] Kaplan, M: Optimization of Number, Location, Size, Control Type, and
Control Setting of Shunt Capacitors on Radial Distribution Feeders. [ITPAS],
vol. PAS103, no. 9, pp. 26592665, Sept. 1984.

[10] Chiang, H.-D., Baran, M. E.: On The Existence and Uniqueness of Load
Flow Solution for Radial Distribution Power Networks, [ITCS], vol. 37, no. 3,
pp. 410416, March 1990.
[11] Yang, H., Huang, Y., Huang, C.: Solution to Capacitor Placement
Problem in Radial Distribution System Using Tabu Search Method, 1995
International Conference on Energy Management and Power Delivery,
Proceedings of EMPD 95, vol. 1, pp. 388393, 1995.
[12] Miu, K. N., Chiang, H.-D., Darling, G.: Capacitor Placement,
Replacement and Control in Large-scale Distribution Systems by a GA-Based
Two Stage Algorithm, [ITPS], vol. 12, no. 3 , pp. 11601166, Aug. 1997.
[13] Zadeh, L.A.: Fuzzy sets, Information and Control, vol.8, pp. 338-353,
1965.
Figure 7 Capacitor Placement