Improvement the voltage stability margin of Iraqi power system using the optimal values of FACTS devices

The detection of potential voltage collapse in power systems is essential to maintain the voltage stability in heavy load demand. This paper proposes a method to detect weak buses in power systems using two stability indices: the voltage stability margin factor (dS/dY) and the voltage collapse prediction index (VCPI). Hence, the paper aims to improve the voltage stability of Iraqi transmission grid by allocating FACTS devices in the optimal locations and optimal sizes. Two types of FACTS are used in this paper which are Thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC) and static var compensator (SVC). The objective function of the problem is fitted using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The proposed method is verified using simulation test on Diyala-132 kV network which is a part of the Iraqi power system. The results observed that improvement the voltage stability margin, the voltage profile of Diyala-132 kV is increased and the power losses is decreased.