Practical application of evolutionary computing to reactive power planning

The paper presents a practical application of evolutionary programming (EP) to reactive power planning (RPP). The proposed approach has been used in a real power system in England. Simulation results, compared with those obta ined by using an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) and a conventional gradie nt-based optimisation method, Broyden's method, are presented to show that the present method is better for power system planning. Several cases simul ating the real network situation of both normal operation and the operation with line outages have been studied. For all these cases, EP is much bette r than others. The comprehensive real-state simulation results show a great potential for applications of EP to real-life power system economical and secure operation, planning and reliability assessment.