Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Volt/var/THD control in distribution networks considering reactive

power capability of solar energy conversion
Sajad Jashfar a, Saeid Esmaeili b,
a
b

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran
Department of Electrical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 17 February 2013
Received in revised form 19 January 2014
Accepted 27 February 2014
Available online 29 March 2014
Keywords:
Distribution networks
Voltage and reactive power control
Solar energy system
Harmonic distortions

a b s t r a c t
Voltage and reactive power (volt/var) control have been widely employed to reduce power losses and satisfy the main distribution system operational constraints. In the proposed volt/var/THD control the reactive power capability from PV solar is considered as additional control variable in presence of non-linear
loads. So, the limitations on deliverable power for each operation point affect inverter reactive power
scheduling. Therefore, the main aim is to nd proper dispatch schedules for the substation capacitors
(SCs), along feeder capacitors (FCs), on-load tap changer (OLTC) tap positions, and photovoltaic systems
(PVs) inverter reactive power considering power quality constraints. In order to reduce effect of uncertainty in the forecast plan and to reduce switching operations for OLTC, a new load and generation
time-interval division (over 24-h period) is introduced based on both load curve and solar power output
curve. Optimization problem is formulated for minimizing fuzzy membership functions values based on a
multi-objective genetic algorithm solution method. For improving the search ability by multi-objective
approach a method which guarantees the suppression of maximum allowable daily SCs switching and
effectively corrects the convergence process is utilized. For more practical application of the proposed
method, simulation is carried out in the large distorted distribution system with a number of non-linear
loads and solar energy generation system.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Currently, PV solar panels are used to generate electric power as
clean and sustainable energy resources which can mitigate the
load on the transmission lines [1]. The DC/AC inverter is able to locally balance reactive power on network with faster response time
than shunt capacitors. So, modifying PV inverters as static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) [2] makes it possible to operate
them in non-sunny conditions to increase distribution and transmission capacity as well as stability of the system. On the other
hand, considering the intermittent output power of PVs, the idle
capacity can be utilized to reactive power control of the system.
Daily volt/var control at distribution system level has been
widely employed to reduce energy losses and maintain voltage
proles within permissible limits. Control variables planning of
the system depend on various factors, such as harmonics and types
of renewable energy sources (RESs). High penetration of non-linear
loads and RESs in distribution networks lead to more complexity of
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 341 3235900.
E-mail addresses: s.jashfar@student.kgut.ac.ir (S. Jashfar), s_esmaeili@uk.ac.ir
(S. Esmaeili).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2014.02.038
0142-0615/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

optimal operation scheduling of these networks. Signicant

improvement in the efciency and quality of power system operation achieve by coordinated operation [3]. Daily off-line volt/var
control is a tool to coordinate the centralized and local controllers
in distribution management networks [4]. Different volt/var control methods have been proposed to improve network conditions
up to now. The daily optimal volt/var control integrating distributed generators (DGs) under steady-state sinusoidal operation
condition has been investigated in previous research. Viawan and
Karlsson [5] suggested a coordination strategy to voltage and reactive power control in presence of DG and conventional control
equipment such as OLTC and capacitors. The authors in [6], presented application of automatic voltage regulators (AVRs) banks
and capacitors to volt/var control. Fuzzy logic is utilized to improve
the multi-objective optimization procedure. Dynamic programming method under sinusoidal operating system conditions across
the real medium-voltage distribution system by Liang and Cheng
presented in [7]. However, in large systems dynamic programming
method is not appropriate due to the computational burden involved with it. Niknam et al. [812] present a cost-based methodology for daily volt/var control without harmonic consideration in
distribution systems including DGs. They used evolutionary

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

Nomenclature
C tn
CSC
D
dFC
dSC
Fi
F i;max
hmax
h0
IC
IC,max
J
k

LB
Loss
Loss0
m
MKC
MKSC
MKT

state of capacitor nth at hour t

on/off states of substation capacitors
number of optimization parameters
on time duration of feeder capacitors
on/off state time duration for substation capacitors
ith objective function
maximum limit of ith objective function
highest harmonic order of interest
smallest harmonic order of interest
converter output current
maximum value of converter output current
junction of ith intervals end to start of (i + 1)th interval
number of objective functions
index of a non-dominated front
lower bound
energy losses of compensated system
energy losses of uncompensated system
number of iterations
the maximum limit of capacitor switching
the maximum limit of substation capacitor switching
maximum allowable number of OLTC daily switching
operations
n
number of intervals for the entire load period
Nb
total number of buses
NC
total number of capacitors
NFC
total number of feeder capacitors
NL
total number of lines
NP
population size
NPV
number of PVs
NSC
number of substation capacitors
oi
ith offspring
PtL
active load at hour t
PtLoss fh a component of real power loss in frequency fh at hour t
PtLoss;L fh a component of line real power loss in frequency fh at
hour t
PtLoss;T fh a component of transformer real power loss in frequency fh at hour t
PtPV
active power output of PV solar inverter at hour t
PPV,R
rated active power value from PV
Q tc;PV
PV system reactive power constraint due to converter
current at hour t
Q tL
reactive load at hour t
Q tPV
hourly PV inverter reactive power
Q tPV;max maximum possible PV inverter reactive power at hour t
Q tPV;min minimum possible PV inverter reactive power at hour t

methods such as ant colony optimization (ACO) [8], honey-bee

mating optimization (HBMO) [9], particle swarm optimization
(PSO) [10], gravitational search algorithm (GSA) [11], and bacterial
forging algorithm (BFA) [12] to determine solution of the problem.
Liang and Wang in [13] proposed a fuzzy-simulated annealing
method for volt/var control strategy in distribution systems to nd
the combinatorial operation control of devices. The authors in [13]
proposed a dispatching schedule in real distribution network
regardless of harmonic. Propagation of harmonics through the system causes damage to devices and consequently more losses.
Capacitors may have an important role in the propagation of harmonics in the networks. The on/off capacitor switching does not
introduce new harmonics into the network, but may lead to amplify already present currents and voltages harmonic due to possible
resonance at one or more harmonic frequencies [1417]. Harmonics put power quality greatly at risk and lead to undesirable solutions at the operational level. Volt/var control with harmonic
consideration is discussed in a few papers [18,19]. In these papers,

QPV,R
Q tv ;PV
TAPt
t
tFC
t ss
THDtV i
THDV,max
UB
VC
VC,max
Vdc,max
DV ti
V ti fh

DVmax
VPV
VPV,max
VPV,min
Vref
XC
#
hR
k
kj

lj
lj,max
lj,min
n

qi
s
v
!

,ij
W
W

rated reactive power value from PV

PV system reactive power constraint due to converter
voltage at hour t
OLTC tap position at hour t
index which represents time in a 24-h period
start time of switching feeder capacitors to on state
start time of th time-interval
total harmonic distortion factor at bus i and hour t
maximum value of total harmonic distortion
upper bound
converter output voltage
maximum value of converter voltage
maximum value of converter voltage
the voltage deviation at bus i and hour t
a component of voltage in frequency fh for bus ith and
hour t
maximum allowable voltage deviation value
voltage at the PV system connection point
maximum value of voltage at the PV system connection
point
minimum value of voltage at the PV system connection
point
the reference value for voltage
the total equivalent reactance from the PV system lowvoltage terminal to the grid connection point
start time vector
the rated power factor angle of the PV node
total crowding distance
crowding distances with respect to kth objective function
the kth objective function
maximum value of the kth objective function
minimum value of the kth objective function
non-dominated fronts
ith parent
index of time-interval
parent population
offspring population
ith solution in the sorted list with respect to the objective function k
point of active power or reactive power at th timeinterval
average of active power or reactive power at th timeinterval

OLTC tap positions planning and shunt capacitors on/off switching

states have been done based on optimal time-interval division for
the forecasted daily load to decrease energy losses and improve
power quality.
This paper proposes precise mutual impact of power quality
constraints and PVs in volt/var planning which has not been considered in previous research. Considering active power output of
PV as well as active and reactive power demand of load, leads to
procurement of optimal time-interval division. Based on the obtained time-interval division, a novel method for considering PVs
for volt/var/total harmonic distortion (THD) control in distribution
networks is achieved. PVs inverters can provide necessary reactive
power for the grid. In the proposed method, injection of harmonic
currents to the system caused by PVs inverters operation is also
considered. The control possibility should be performed in switchable capacitor banks, transformer load tap changers, and reactive
power outputs of specic embedded generators. The active power
outputs often specied by characteristics of energy resource or by

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

market decisions [20]. In addition to conventional control, variables such as OLTC tap positions and capacitors on/off switching
states, reactive power of PVs are also scheduled and considered
as additional control variables. In order to perform precise calculations, a hybrid joint programming (HJP) to volt/var/THD control is
developed and implemented utilizing integration of MATLAB and
DIgSILENT software. The paper is outlined as follows: Section 2
presents problem formulation. PV solar systems consideration in
distribution systems to propose a novel control scheme is introduced in Section 3. Implementation of a HJP method to determine
the optimal dispatch schedules for all capacitors, OLTC tap position
and PVs inverters reactive power scheduling is proposed in Section 4. Section 5 describes multi-objective optimization fundamental and method to nd the best decision space in the proposed
control scheme. Simulation results of applying the suggested control scheme to 5 test cases is demonstrated in Section 6, while detailed discussion of these obtained results are presented in
Section 7. Finally, the major contributions and conclusions are
summarized in Section 8.





DV ti 1  V ti;rms 

i 1; . . . ; Nb ;

t 1; . . . ; 24

A well-designed distribution system must keep the voltages at

all nodes within the allowed limits:

DV ti %  DV max

2.1.3. Total harmonic distortion at each bus

The third objective function is the voltage-THD at bus i at hour t,
which is expressed as

THDtV i

q
2
V ti;rms  jV ti f1 j2
V ref

i 1 . . . ; Nb ;

t 1; . . . ; 24

The amount of rms voltage improvement not only relies on fundamental voltage but also harmonic components play an important role in the improvement.

V ti;rms



V ti f1  

r

2
1 THDtV i

Therefore, THDtV i is limited to a maximum value as follows

2. Problem formulation

THDtV i %  THDV;max

10

Volt/var/THD control optimization problem is a discrete problem with inequality constraints. The values of objective functions
are determined through harmonic load ow calculation (HLFC)
based on the provided control variables. These control variables include tap positions of OLTC, SCs and FCs on/off switching states,
and PVs hourly reactive power schedule. The aim is to nd the
minimum value of objective functions while satisfying the constraints. The objectives of the coordinated schedule include system
losses reduction, distribution system and customer voltage variation as well as THD restriction.

Practical constraints such as maximum allowable number of

switching operation in a day for OLTC, SCs and FCs are dened as
follows [22]:

2.1. Objective functions

2.2.1. Maximum switching operations of OLTC

2.1.1. Energy losses over a 24-h period

The active power losses at hour t can be dened as the sum of
losses in each line and transformer. The rst objective function in
volt/var/THD control problem is total real power losses at all frequency components over a 24-h period which has to be minimized

PLoss;Transformer P Loss;T f1

hmax
X

PLoss;T fh

hh0

PLoss;Line

NL
NL X
hmax
X
X
PLoss;L f1
PLoss;L fh
L1

L1 hh0

PLoss PLoss;Transformer PLoss;Lines

Loss

24
X
PtLoss

2.2. Operational constraints

24
X
jTAPt  TAPt1 j  MKT

11

t1

The maximum permissible operating times of OLTC in a day is

considered 30 [18,23,24].
2.2.2. Maximum switching operations of capacitors
24
X
jC tn  C t1
n j  MKC

n 1; 2    ; Nc ;

12

t1

The maximum permissible switching operating times for the

capacitors installed at the secondary bus in a day is considered 6
and for those installed along the feeder is assumed 2 [24].

t1

2.1.2. Voltage deviation at each bus

Voltage deviation is considered as the second objective function
which may occur due to time-variant nature of loads consumption
and RESs generation. The root mean square (rms) value of voltage
at bus i at hour t, is dened by

V ti;rms

THDV,max should be within acceptable operating limits through

optimization process. The steady state voltage deviation (6) and
voltage THD (8) are restricted according to IEEE-519 standard [21].

r
Xhmax t
jV ti f1 j2
jV i fh j2
hh
0

To minimize the difference between bus voltages from the ac


tual operating voltage V ti 1p:u : and enhance voltage security,
voltage deviation can be calculated as

2.2.3. Reactive power limits of PV

At any time the reactive power generated from PV is bonded to
several limitations which are depended on the operating point. The
reactive power constraints of PVs are described in considerable detail in the next section.

Q tPV;min  Q tPV  Q tPV;max

13

3. PV reactive power capability

In this paper, PV solar systems are considered in distribution
systems to propose a novel control scheme. The controllable domain of photovoltaic converter reactive power capability to control
the appropriate action is taken into account [25]. Fig. 1 shows the

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

Battery
Storage

PV Solar Array

DC

DC
Link

DC
DC

Vdc

Output
Filter

Voltage Source
Inverter

DC

DC

LC
Filter

AC

jX C PPV , Q PV

VC

Q*

P*

IC

jXG

V PV

Grid

VG

Vact

Controller
V

1/z

Fig. 1. The typical layout of a grid connected PV solar system which is interfaced with full-scale power electric converter.

typical layout of a grid connected PV solar system which is interfaced with full-scale power electric converter. There are some limits to the reactive power that can be transmitted between the
converter and the electrical grid [2628]. The acceptable reactive
power schedule depends on maximum value of voltage and current
capacity of converter, which imposes a limit on the P and Q-capability of PV system. For computing the PPVQPV controllable domain
of the PV system, it is required to consider the converters VC,max
and IC,max values. The active and reactive power correlation of the
converter current limit can be written as

P2PV Q 2PV IC V PV 2 :

14

And the relation between PPV and QPV considering the converter
voltage limit is

P2PV

Q PV

V2
PV
XC

!2

V C V PV
XC

2
15

This equation can be used to calculate the design value

VC,max, which determines the maximum value of dc-link voltage
Vdc,max in the inverter-based DG, and IC,max. The converter voltage VC relies on the dc-link voltage, the parameters of the
amplitude modulation index and the adopted modulation technique [26,28].
The maximum value of the converter current will stem from the
rated value of PV system active and reactive power and the minimum value of VPV, which is [28]

IC;max

q
P2PV;R Q 2PV;R
V PV;min

q
P2PV;R PPV;R tan hR 2
V PV;min

16

The maximum value of the converter voltage can be derived

from the rated value of PV system active and reactive power and
the maximum value of V PV as follows [28]

V C;max

v
!2
u
u
V 2PV;max
2
t
:

PPV;R PPV;R tan hR

V PV;max
XC
XC

17

The idle capacity to produce reactive power in the PV system is

constrained by the converter current rating and voltage rating limits. Thus, the hourly PV system reactive power limitations due to
converter current rating Q tc;PV and voltage rating Q tv ;PV can be calculated as follows [28]

q
2
V PV IC;max 2  P tPV ;
s

2
V C;max V PV
V2
2

 PtPV  PV :
XC
XC

Q tc;PV
Q tv ;PV

18

Finally, for each operating point, the maximum reactive power

injection capability at tth hour for the control action can be determined as [28]

n
o
Q tPV;max min Q tc;PV ; Q tv ;PV :

19

considering PV voltage V PV of 1.0, VPV,max = 1.05 And

VPV,min = 0.95[(all in per-unit)], XC = 0.30, and the rated power factor
of cos hR = 0.9 and cos hR = 0.95, Fig. 2 shows the set of P and Q capability curves of PV system which expresses the fact that both the
converters maximum current-carrying capacity and the maximum
value of converter voltage will impose limits on its capability.
4. Implementation of the proposed hybrid joint programming
method
The proposed scheme comprises two outstanding features.
Firstly, the forecasted load demand and PVs active power output
generation of the day-ahead is divided into several levels. Secondly, the combination of optimal dispatch schedule of all control
devices such as OLTC, SCs, FCs and PV inverter reactive power
simultaneously besides considering harmonics is performed using
multi-objective genetic algorithm. A feasible solution for volt/var/
THD control includes OLTC and capacitors 24-hours settings and
PVs inverters reactive power at each hour where the node voltages
and harmonic distortions are within the acceptable limits. The control variables for each interval include 17 OLTC tap position states
([8. . . 101. . .8]) and 2 capacitors states (0 = off; 1 = on) for
each capacitor at each hour [23].
4.1. Time-interval method
The rst crucial step during distribution systems operational
planning in the presence of RESs, is forecasting load demand
and RESs power output in order to adjust and optimize system
performance. Nowadays, high precision techniques to load forecasting [29,30] and prediction for intraday solar forecasting [31]
are available. The optimal time-intervals can be determined to
satisfy the maximum switching operations of OLTC [18,23] and
also, to reduce effect of uncertainty and slight variations in the
forecast plan. The OLTC tap position during all hours at each
interval remains constant. The method presented in paper has
been upgraded for both load demand and alternative energy generation, simultaneously.
In the proposed time-interval method, regarding to the considered number of intervals, every chromosome contains start time of
each time-interval. Solution structure of time-interval division
problem which represents the start time of each interval is formed
as # ts1 ts2    t sn 1n . The value of any gen suggests the start time
of each time-interval t ss . In this paper number of time-intervals is
chosen 4. Fig. 3(a and b) shows characteristic curve of load demand
and PV aggregate power output used in the network. Genetic approach is employed to determine the start time of each time-interval for the specied numbers. Start time of each interval can be
obtained with minimizing the Fitness (#).

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.4
0.2

Q [p.u.]

Q [p.u.]

0.2
cos R = 0.95

cos R = 0.9

-0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.4

-0.6

-0.6

-0.8

-0.8

-1

-1
0

0.5

0.5

P [p.u.]

P [p.u.]

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2. PV systems capability diagram for different power factor values (a) without converter limits consideration. (b) with converter limits consideration.

active power
reactive power

90

90

80

80

70
60
50
40
30

70
60
50
40
30

20

20

10

10

10

15

20

active power

100

Percent of PV solar generation, %

Percent of peak load, %

100

10

15

Time, h

Time, h

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3. (a) Typical daily load curve [18]. (b) Typical daily PV aggregate power output curve [26].

20

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

Fitness# min

n
X

kW  W k2

20

This formula consists of two sub-equations as follows:

8s 2 f1;2;  ; ng ) 9# t s1 t s2  t sn 1n : 1  tss  24 & t ss1 < t ss

8Ws 2 PtL ; Q tL ; PtPV ) 9W W1 W2   Wn 124 :

8 1
W Wt s1 Wts1 1   Wt s2  11ts ts
>
>
2
1
>
>
>
< W2 Wt Wt 1   Wt  1
s2
s2
s3
1t s3 t s2
>
 
>
>
>
>
: Wn Wt sn   W24 W1   Wts  1
1
1t s

9
>
>
>
>
>
=

n t sn1

>
>
>
>
>
;
21

4.2. HJP applied to volt/var/THD control

A feasible solution includes OLTC and capacitors 24-hours settings and PV inverter reactive power at each hour where the node
voltages and harmonic distortions are within the acceptable limits.
Fig. 4 represents a possible solution of the problem. The optimization problem is solved using two separate modules. The owchart
in Fig. 5 demonstrates the calculation process of the optimization
problem. GA is implemented in MATLAB software. The algorithm
used in multi-objective genetic algorithm is described in [32].
DIgSILENT Programming Language (DPL) is utilized to perform
the objective functions calculations. The proposed procedure for
daily volt/var/THD control is iterated utilizing the combinatorial
method until convergence is achieved. The modules are described
as follows:
4.2.1. MATLAB module
The output of this module is utilized as the initial values for the
next module. As shown in Fig. 4, solution generated by MATLAB is
composed of three parts. The rst part is related to capacitor on/off
switching modes, second part is related to OLTC tap position
modes and the nal part is dedicated to hourly PV inverter reactive
power scheduling. Therefore, if the constraint of maximum OLTC
switching operations is satised, MATLAB writes on the chromosome available in a text le. It is obvious that the computational
burden will be much less, especially when the number of compensation buses is getting large.
4.2.2. DIgSILENT module
The outputs of this module are used, in a cyclic procedure, as
the initial values for the previous described module. DIgSILENT
reads the chromosome data as input and applies them to perform
hourly on/off capacitor switching, OLTC tap position, and PVs
inverters reactive power scheduling. Dispatch of shunt capacitors
to perform hourly on/off capacitor switching is presented in next
section. Afterwards, HLFC is run based on assigned hourly optimal
scheduling and the objective function values are calculated. Again,
DIgSILENT exports the objective functions values through a text le
into MATLAB as input data. Finally, fuzzy reasoning is applied to
determine the optimal dispatch schedule in multi-objective optimization problem (MOP).

4.2.3. Dispatch of shunt capacitors

At each hour, power quality improvement greatly depends on
the location and size of the switched capacitors. Also, frequent
switching operations may reduce switchable capacitor banks lifetime. It is necessary to consider life expectancies of them. In this
paper, a method which guarantees the suppression of maximum
allowable daily FCs and SCs switching and effectively corrects the
convergence process is utilized. As the FCs switching technique
presented in [18] has a satisfactory computational efciency, it is
adopted in this paper but the method for switching capacitors installed at the substation is improved. Considering the limitation of
capacitors daily operation, these capacitors should be programmed
in a way that the constraints in switching capacitors become implicit. Such a programming procedure would lead to appropriate convergence despite the complexity and computational burden. Fig. 6
illustrates the programming of capacitors installed at a substation.
The red line shows the change in the state of switching. The Unchanged switching blue line is followed by a reduction of the
switching states.
At each interval, the values zero or one represent on/off state of
the capacitor. Maximum time-interval is achieved by dividing 24-h
to MKSC and minimum of it is 0. Therefore, it is obvious that if each
di is zero or a value in two consecutive intervals, the number of
capacitors switching will decrease. This idea would satisfy maximum allowable capacitors switching as well as on/off periods of
capacitors (see Fig. 6(a)).
For example, Fig. 6(b) presents the sample data of a chromosome
representing the scheduling of a substations capacitor which is fed
into DIgSILENT module. Considering these data for Fig. 6(a) implies
that the capacitor would stay on from hour 1 for three hours. Since
d2 is assigned by 0, on/off state is not determined in this interval
and there would only be one switching reduction. In hour 4, the
capacitor is switched off for two hours. In hour 6, on state is
scheduled for two consecutive periods of three and four hours. This
state also represents a switching reduction. In the remaining hours,
off state is scheduled for the capacitor (see Fig. 6(c)).
5. Multi-objective optimization fundamental and method
5.1. Construction of membership functions
Fuzzy theory is suitable to deal with unclear linguistic expressions. Since the objectives proposed in (3), (6), and (8) do not have
similar units and variation ranges, a membership degree is assigned to each parameter using fuzzy sets. Various membership
functions have been examined and the most suitable membership
functions are selected and utilized. A vector evaluated fuzzy multiobjective optimization is employed to determine the optimal dispatch schedule that provides the best compromise among all the
objectives. The membership functions lDV, lTHD, And lLoss which
are mathematically presented in (22)(24) are used for controlling
the buses voltage deviation, THD and systems total energy losses,
respectively.

lDV

maxDV ti
DV max



max DV ti  DV max

others

Fig. 4. Solution structure for volt/var/THD problem.

22

S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

227

Fig. 5. Flowchart of the proposed algorithm for optimal scheduling.

( maxTHDt

vi
THDmax

lTHD

1
(

lLoss

maxTHDtv i  THDmax

5.2. Multi-objective genetic algorithm procedure

23

others

Loss
Loss0

Loss  Loss0

others

24

Fig. 7 shows the ith continuous objective function described as

fuzzy subset in the lF i space. The lower and upper bound of the
membership functions are restricted to zero and one, respectively.
According to Eqs. (22)(24), if F i were smaller than F i;max ; the
membership value will monotonically decrease to zero with slope
dependent on F i;max and the optimization is creditable, otherwise
membership value is equal to one.

5.2.1. Basic concept of multi-objective problem

There are two general approaches to solve the MOPs. In MOPs,
there is a vector of objective functions and usually there is no single optimal solution that together optimizes all objective functions.
In these cases the decision makers are looking for the most-preferred solution [22].
Optimal v that minimizes objective functions of volt/var/THD
problem indicates the best decision space which is characterized
by lF i :
It can be express as follow:

Objectv minlDV v; lTHD v; lLoss v

25

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S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 6. Illustrates the programming of capacitors installed in the substation. (a) Hourly schedule of capacitors installed at the substation secondary bus. (b) Sample data of a
chromosome representing the scheduling of a substations capacitor. (c) Example of Hourly schedule of capacitors installed at the substation secondary bus.

Step 4: If no solutions dominate i then i belongs to the rst

front. In other words, rank of solution i is set to one. This procedure is repeated for rest of the solutions in NP.
Step 5: Likewise, for kth front (nj), the set of solutions for sorting the solutions for (k + 1)th front is done.
5.2.6. Calculate crowding distance
The crowding distance method obtains a uniform deployment
of solutions along the best-known Pareto front. For each objective
function k, sort the solutions in the ascending order. Boundary values for each solution are allocated innite value kj v1j 1 and
kj vj 1, then [33]

Fig. 7. Membership function for objective functions.

kj
5.2.2. Initialization population
The initial solutions v generated in a random manner consists
of operating point of capacitor on/off switching modes, OLTC tap
position modes and the hourly PV inverter reactive power scheduling as
h

vfNP Dg SC fNP NSC 2MKSC 1g FC fNP 2NFC g OLTCfNP ng Q PV
fN P 24N PV g

26
Considering the bounds on the decision variables, new randomly solution (power system variables) is produced. The related
part of capacitor on/off switching modes and hourly PV inverter
reactive power scheduling in each generated solution is spontaneously restricted by operational constraints.
5.2.3. Evaluation of population
With initial random values of control variables, energy losses
with each hour, voltage deviation and voltage THD at each bus is
calculated from HLFC. Total energy losses are calculated by combining energy losses of all 24 h, and the maximum voltage deviation and maximum voltage THD of all 24 h power system
operation are calculated.
5.2.5. Non-dominated sorting
The population is sorted based on non-domination using the
following sorting algorithm. The sort algorithm is described as
below:
Step 1: the set of solutions dominated by solution i, is obtained
in the population NP.
Step 2: The number of solutions that dominate the solution i, is
obtained.
Step 3: If solution i dominates solution j in NP, then j is added to
set of solutions. If j dominates i, i is incremented.

vij

i1
lj vi1
j  lj vj
i 2;    ;  1;
lj;max  lj;min

27

5.2.7. Selection and recombination

By means of tournament selection with crowed comparison
operator, the elitism solutions as all the previous and current
best solutions are selected. Selection for solutions for next
generation (vm+1) is done by combining the current generation
population and the offspring population (vm [ !m ). Based on
non-domination, population is sorted and the new generation
is completed by each front subsequently until current population
size is obtained.
5.2.8. Crossover and mutation
New solutions (power system variables) !0 of size NP are
generated by crossover and mutation employed to v0.
Crossover and mutation scheme is employed in this paper
as below [34]:
The mathematic description of crossover is:

o1 q1 rand  a  q2  q1

28

o2 q2 rand  a  q2  q1

29

The mathematic description of mutation is:

o q b  rand  UB  LB

30

where rand is a random number in the range zero to one, a and b

are the scalar parameters.
5.2.9. Save best solution
The best solution is memorized and retained which comply
with lowest total energy losses, voltage deviation and voltage
THD at each bus during a 24-h period.

229

S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

5.2.10. Stopping criteria

Stopping criteria is decided based on experience and in this
volt/var/THD problem. The value of maximum cycle number is
chosen 100.

6. Simulation results and discussion

The proposed method for daily volt/var/THD control is applied
to a 4.16 kV, IEEE 123-bus distribution test system [35]. This system is considered as a distorted distribution system in [18,19] as
a case study, where bus-150 is considered a swing bus (reference
bus). However, the IEEE 123-bus test system considered in this paper contains non-linear loads besides PV solar arrays (see Fig. 8).
The OLTC is used to keep the secondary bus voltage prole closed
to the rated value under all load conditions. The tap changer is installed on the high-voltage or low-current side of transformer
winding. Shunt capacitor banks connected to the substations secondary bus are used to compensate the reactive power ow
through the main transformer and those on feeder are used to improve the voltage prole along feeder. All switching capacitors include one bank. The data of shunt capacitors installed in the
distribution system are given in [19]. Two 200 kW PV arrays are installed at buses 95 and 108. Typical daily PV aggregate power output curve is shown in Fig. 3(b) [26].
The system includes ve types of non-linear loads with the harmonic spectrum given in [19]. The harmonic spectrum for PVs is
taken from [36]. The harmonic currents injected by non-linear
loads and PV solar inverters are considered in the calculations. In
the presence of harmonics and PVs inverters reactive power, ve
different cases are considered to investigate the effectiveness of
proposed method:

Table 1
Results from proposed control method in an IEEE 123 bus test system.
Item

Case 1

Case 2

Case 3

Case 4

Case 5

DVmax (%)
THDmax (%)
Loss (MW h)

12.5027
6.2213
4.5636
1
1
1

3.8713
9.614
4.1131
0.77426
1
0.9013
437.16

4.2307
3.6773
4.1407
0.8461
0.7355
0.9073
4192.43

3.1482
15.6515
3.9168
0.6296
1
0.8583
5463.34

3.5961
4.3808
3.9352
0.7192
0.8762
0.8623
6475.71

lDV
lTHD
lLoss
Computation time (s)

Case 1: Represents the system initial condition with no control

scheme.
Case 2: Proposes the control scheme with no PV solar inverter
reactive power consideration as well as no harmonic
consideration.
Case 3: Represents the control scheme considering no PV solar
inverter reactive power but harmonic consideration.
Case 4: Proposes the control scheme considering PV solar inverter reactive power regardless of harmonic.
Case 5: Represents the control scheme considering both PV
solar inverter reactive power and harmonic.
The computation is carried out on an Intel core i7 2.6 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, PC. Optimal dispatch scheduling results of the
IEEE 123-bus system under non-sinusoidal operating condition
proposed control method is demonstrated in Table 1. Dissimilar
schedule of shunt capacitors and OLTC tap positions generated
by proposed method are given in Tables 2 and 3 for different cases.
Also, the results of time-interval approach can be seen at the OLTC
tap position dispatch schedules in Tables 2 and 3. Fig. 9(a and b)

Fig. 8. IEEE 123-bus distribution network.

Optimal dispatch schedule of OLTC and shunt capacitors for case 2

230

Table 2
The non-sinusoidal IEEE 123 bus radial network operating condition without PV inverter reactive power schedule.
Optimal dispatch schedule of OLTC and shunt capacitors for case 3

OLTC

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

C14

Hour

OLTC

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

C14

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3

0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

0
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2

0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Table 3
The non-sinusoidal IEEE 123 bus radial network operating condition with PV inverter reactive power schedule.
Optimal dispatch schedule of OLTC and shunt capacitors for case 4

Optimal dispatch schedule of OLTC and shunt capacitors for case 5

Hour

OLTC

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

C14

Hour

OLTC

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

C14

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
4

1
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4

0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0

0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

Hour

231

S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

PV inverters VAr scheduling, p.u.

shows the daily optimal dispatch of PVs inverters reactive power

generation and absorption for the best solutions in two cases 4
and 5. THD reduction and voltage improvement are plotted in
Fig. 10(ac), respectively. THD reductions of the most distorted
buses, before and after optimization (through different cases simulation), are plotted in Fig. 10(a and b). Exact inspection of the system conditions before compensation (OLTC tap at +8 position, all
capacitors are switched off and reactive power of PVs are not considered) reveals that the system is unfavorably distorted. Voltage
improvement of the worst bus (bus 66) after applying the control
scenarios in comparison with no control execution, are plotted in
Fig. 10(c). However, after compensation, the voltage deviation
and harmonic distortion levels are effectively suppressed below

the permitted level of 5%. Summary of voltage, THD, and energy

saving in system with different cases are visible in Table 4. In cases
4 and 5, precise inspection of the schedules conrms that application of PVs inverters reactive power leads to higher energy saving
in comparison with cases 2 and 3.

7. Discussion of results
The proposed HJP is applied to the IEEE 123-bus test-system
including PV systems, capacitors, and OLTC to obtain acceptable
voltage deviation, harmonic distortion, and energy losses in different cases. The reactive power capability of the PV inverter is

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

-0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.4

-0.6

-0.6

-0.8

-0.8

PV 1
PV 2

-1

10

15

-1
5

20

10

15

20

Time, h

Time, h

(a)

(b)

Fig. 9. PV inverters reactive power scheduling (a) PV 1 and 2 inverter operation mode for case 4 and (b) PV 1 and 2 inverter operation mode for case 5.

8
6

0.98

Voltage, p.u.

THD, %

THD, %

0.96

Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
Case 5

0.94

0.92

0.9

1
0.88

10

15

20

10

15

20

10

15

Time, h

Time, h

Time, h

(a)

(b)

(c)

20

Fig. 10. Simulation results for the 123-bus system for non-sinusoidal operating condition. (a) THD reduction of the bus 83. (b) THD reduction of the bus 86. (c) Voltage
improvement of the bus 66.

232

S. Jashfar, S. Esmaeili / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 60 (2014) 221233

Table 4
Summary results of approaches.

Case
Case
Case
Case
Case

1
2
3
4
5

Minimum voltage (pu)

Maximum voltage (pu)

Average system voltage (pu)

Energy saving (%)

0.87497
0.96128
0.95769
0.96851
0.96403

1.0
1.03871
1.04230
1.03148
1.03596

0.9013
0.9901
0.9826
0.9969
0.9891

9.871593
9.266807
14.17302
13.76983

considered to voltage and reactive power control. The application

of PV inverter reactive power leads to higher energy saving. The
impact of energy saving for the compensated network considering
PV inverter is summarized in column 5 of Table 4. As can be observed, the energy saving with PV inverter reactive power consideration (cases 4 and 5) is better than without considering this
capability (cases 2 and 3). Therefore, executing appropriate control
scheme on PV inverter reactive power leads to less electrical energy losses in comparison with the other cases. Also, hourly voltage
improvements indicate that average voltage deviations decrease
from 9.44% to less than 1.06% for different cases. Considering inevitable propagation of harmonics in distribution networks, they
should be considered to keep the harmonic distortion levels within
the permitted limits. Non-linear load level increase results in THD
value increment in the network. However, after compensation, the
compensating capacitors play more important roles. Outputs of
HLFC before optimization show a maximum voltage THD of
6.24% for this system as given in Table 1 for case 1. Results show
maximum voltage THD is limited to 3.68% and 4.38% for cases 3
and 5, respectively. After applying the proposed control scheme,
the distortion levels are effectively suppressed below the permitted level of 5%. The reduction in the maximum total harmonic distortion level in case 3 and 5 with respect to cases 1, 2 and 4 justies
the inclusion of harmonics in the optimal planning. Since, scheduling without taking harmonics into account causes a severe harmonic distortion problem i.e., 9.61% in case 2 and 15.65% in case
4 which is higher than standard limit. These facts are also demonstrated in Fig. 10(ac) for two distorted buses 83 and 86. Voltage
prole of node 66, which is the node with lowest voltage in the
network, is shown through 24-h in Fig. 10(c). The proposed HJP
method is precise in obtaining a much better optimal solution.
Inclusion of PV in the proposed dispatch algorithm results in different schedules for the OLTC and switch capacitors under non-sinusoidal conditions (see Tables 2 and 3). The OLTC taps positions and
capacitors on/off switching status vary at substations and along
feeders through 24-h. Total OLTC and capacitors switching operations numbers per day satisfy the constraints. A more precise comparison of results in case 3 and 5 shows that, considering PVs
reactive power capability, harmonic values are decreased. This is
due to more effective utilization of PV units which may lead to
avoidance of resonance condition by changing capacitors schedule
(the same result can be acquired by comparison of case 2 and 4).
Moreover, the loss reduction is improved about twice the case 3.
In case 4 network losses are reduced in comparison with case 5.
This is a sacrice for harmonic reduction in case 5. The results also
discover a dependent operation between PVs and capacitors on/
off states (For example PV system in bus 108 and capacitor number
12 and 13). It can be the subject of future research for coordinated
control of PV and compensating devices to improve the overall
optimization performances.
8. Conclusion
It is necessary to decrease burden on grid capacity of the distribution networks. Volt/var/THD control makes it possible to improve the energy delivery efciency on existing distribution

networks. This paper proposes a hybrid joint programming to

volt/var/THD control action utilizing integration of MATLAB and
DIgSILENT software. The suggested methodology is applied to IEEE
123-bus radial test feeders with promising results. The proposed
scheme comprises two outstanding features. Firstly, the forecasted
load demand and PV solar active power output generation of the
day-ahead is divided into several load levels. Secondly, the combination of optimal dispatch schedule of all control devices such as
OLTC, SCs, FCs, and PVs inverters reactive power simultaneously
in addition to considering harmonics is performed using multiobjective genetic algorithm. This control scheme leads to energy
losses reduction and voltage prole improvement. The control system regarding regulation of its action considers constraints related
to maximum voltage violation and THD violation. The application
of the conventional optimal dispatch scheduling for non-sinusoidal
operating conditions is not acceptable as it leads to high THD voltage distortions. A proper coordination between OLTC, SCs, FCs, and
PVs has been treated. The simulation results indicate that in a system with PVs inverters reactive power consideration, the on duration time of FCs and SCs is considerably decreased. It is concluded
from the study results that the proposed HJP method is very efcient in obtaining the solution of the fuzzy-based volt/var/THD
control problem.

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