Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

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Energy Conversion and Management

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

Application of HGSO to security based optimal placement and parameter

setting of UPFC
Mehrdad Tarafdar Hagh, Manijeh Alipour, Saeed Teimourzadeh
Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, 51665 Tabriz, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 March 2014
Accepted 16 June 2014
Available online 5 July 2014
Keywords:
Flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS)
Unied power ow controller (UPFC)
Contingency analysis
Transmission line loading level

a b s t r a c t
This paper presents a novel method to solve security based optimal placement and parameter setting of
unied power ow controller (UPFC) problem based on hybrid group search optimization (HGSO)
technique. Firstly, HGSO is introduced in order to solve mix-integer type problems. Afterwards, the proposed method is applied to the security based optimal placement and parameter setting of UPFC problem.
The focus of the paper is to enhance the power system security through eliminating or minimizing the
over loaded lines and the bus voltage limit violations under single line contingencies. Simulation studies
are carried out on the IEEE 6-bus, IEEE 14-bus and IEEE 30-bus systems in order to verify the accuracy and
robustness of the proposed method. The results indicate that by using the proposed method, the power
system remains secure under single line contingencies.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Nowadays, practical power systems are facing new challenges
due to large, complex and load-increasing systems. Satisfying security constraints under all system operation conditions has become
an important and critical issue. Commonly, power systems are
planned and operated to meet the N1 security criterion, i.e., normal system minus one element contingencies, which implies that
the system should remain secure under all important rst contingencies [1]. Hence, in order to increase transmission line stability
limit, control power ow and improve the security of transmission
systems, exible AC transmission systems (FACTS) technology has
been extensively employed [2]. The IEEE power engineering society denes FACTS as: alternating current transmission systems
incorporating power electronic based and other static controllers
to enhance controllability and increase power transfer capability.
The unied power ow controller (UPFC), the most effective FACTS
device, combines shunt current injection with series voltage injection to make it capable of independently control the active and
reactive power ows in a transmission line and provide series
and shunt compensation as needed [3,4]. The world rst UPFC
was installed at American Inez station in eastern Kentucky in
1998 [5]. However, the performance of UPFC highly depends upon

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 935 508 4689.

E-mail addresses: tarafdar@tabrizu.ac.ir (M. Tarafdar Hagh), m.alipour91@ms.
tabrizu.ac.ir (M. Alipour), teimourzadeh91@ms.tabrizu.ac.ir (S. Teimourzadeh).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.06.057
0196-8904/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

the location and parameter setting of the device in the power

system.
Optimal power ow incorporating with UPFC as well as optimal
UPFC placement methods has been the topic of literatures for
many years. The non-linear and non-convex nature of the problem
has recently leaded to focus on powerful techniques. An evolutionary programming approach to determine the optimal location of
multi-type FACTS devices are proposed in [6,7]. In [8], a sensitivity-based approach has been developed to nd out the suitable
location of the UPFC. Genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm
technique (PSO) are proposed for solving the optimal location
problem of FACTS in [9,10], respectively. In [11], a new variant of
genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is proposed to solve the problem.
The optimal number and location determination of STATCOM and
SSSC is formulated in [12] in regard to restructured environment.
A fuzzy based controller for dynamic model of Unied Power
Flow Controller (UPFC) is developed to improve the power transfer
capability through the transmission line in [13]. In [14] a hybrid
conguration of a FACTS controller, Optimal Unied Power Flow
Controller (OUPFC), is introduced for optimal steady-state performance of power systems. Additionally, a fuzzy based controller is
proposed in [15] to enhance the power transfer capability by
controlling the UPFC dynamically.
Moreover, lots of works have been presented in the contingency
analysis eld. Various contingency selection methods can be found
in [1618]. In [19], a method for contingency identifying and static
security enhancement of power systems by optimal placement of
FACTS devices employing GA is presented. In [20], differential

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

evolution (DE) algorithm is proposed to determine the optimal

location and parameter setting of UPFC under single line contingency condition. Moreover, non-linear programming approach
has been implemented in [21] in order to solve contingency-based
optimal placement problem of UPFC. The objective of [21] is to
minimize transmission line overload percentage during contingency conditions. However, minimization of voltage violations is
not taken into account in [21].
Recently, a new, easy-to-implement and robust evolutionary
algorithm has been introduced known as group search optimization (GSO) algorithm. GSO algorithm is stimulated by group-living,
a phenomenon typical of the animal kingdom [22,23]. Based on the
results of [24], GSO and its modied versions, in the case of continues optimization problems, have better performance in comparison with other recently published methods. Therefore, this paper,
rstly, presents the hybrid group search optimization algorithm
to solve mix-integer problems. Afterwards, the proposed method
is applied to the optimal placement and parameter setting problem
of UPFC. The focus of the paper is to nd out the optimal location
and parameters setting of the UPFC in order to enhance system
security under single line contingencies through eliminating or
minimizing the overloaded lines and the bus voltage limit
violations. In this work, rstly, for each line outage, contingency
analysis is performed and transmission lines loading and bus
voltage limit violations are determined. Afterwards, ranking procedure is derived to nd out the most critical contingency scenarios.
UPFC optimal placement and parameter setting problem is solved
for some of the most critical contingency scenarios. It should be
noticed that, the current paper considers only the static aspects
of the problem and dynamic performance has been not considered
in this study. The contributions of the study are as follows:
 A new method for solving the security based UPFC placement
and parameter setting problem is proposed.
 The proposed method is a global method and could be applied
to all mixed-integer problems.
 The proposed method tries to nd out the optimal location and
setting of the UPFC for minimizing the transmission lines
overloads and voltage limit violations during the most critical
contingency condition.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: In Section 2,
UPFC equivalent circuit and power ow model is discussed. The
objective function is presented in Section 3. In Section 4, hybrid
group search optimization algorithm is discussed. In Section 5,
implementation of the proposed method to the UPFC optimal
placement and parameter setting problem is presented. Section 6,
presents the simulation studies. Section 7, presents a brief
discussion about the paper. Finally, Section 8 concludes the ndings and contributions of the paper.

2. UPFC equivalent circuit and power ow model

The UPFC consists of a static synchronous series compensator
(SSSC) and a static compensator (STATCOM). The converters are
connected back to back (BTB) via a DC link. Fig. 1 depicts the power
circuit topology of a UPFC, which is connected between buses k and
m. Where, bus m is a mediator bus between UPFC and the transmission line.
The UPFC is capable of independently controlling both active
and reactive power ows in transmission lines. The UPFC could
not absorb or generate active power therefore, the active power
must be balanced between SSSC and STATCOM by using DC link.
In order to balance the active power, the DC link voltage must be
regulated. The STATCOM is responsible for voltage regulation of
DC link. Equivalent circuit of UPFC is presented in Fig. 2. According
to Fig. 2, series and shunt converters could be modeled by two
ideal voltage sources while, ZcR and ZvR are impedances of series
and shunt coupling transformers, respectively. The UPFC voltage
sources are formulated as follows [25]:

V v R jV v R jcosdv R j sindv R

V cR jV cR jcosdcR j sindcR

where VcR and dcR are controllable voltage magnitude and controllable angle corresponding to series voltage source. Additionally, VvR
and dvR are controllable voltage magnitude and controllable angle
corresponding to shunt voltage source.
3. Objective function
The objective of security based optimal location and parameter
setting of UPFC problem is to minimize or eliminate the transmission lines overload problem while keeping the voltage in the
proper limits, under normal and contingency circumstances. The
objective could be achieved through minimization of the following
objective function [20]:

F wl

2
nl 
nb
X
X
Sl
wv
DV 2i
S
l
max
i1
l1

where Sl is the complex power and Sl max is the apparent complex

power rate of line l. The nl is the number of transmission lines
and the nb is the number of buses in power system. The wl, wv
are weighting coefcients. The DVi is dened as follows:

8
V ref min V i
>
>
>
< V ref min
DV i 0
>
>
> V i V ref max
:
V ref

max

Fig. 1. Power circuit topology of a UPFC.

V i < V ref
V ref
V ref

min

max

min

< V i < V ref

< Vi

max

M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

875

In this work, one UPFC is utilized. Three following variables are

considered as the optimization variables of security based optimal
UPFC location and parameter setting problem:
(1) The UPFC location as a discrete variable. The UPFC could be
installed on each transmission line within power system.
(2) Voltage magnitude and phase angle of STATCOM as continues variables.
(3) Voltage magnitude and phase angle of SSSC as continues
variables.
From the above discussion, it is concluded that security based
optimal UPFC placement and parameter setting problem is a
mixed-integer problem. In this work, HGSO as a hybrid optimization method is proposed and implemented.

Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of the UPFC.

where Vi is voltage magnitude related to bus i. V ref min and V ref max
are lower and upper limits of voltage magnitude, respectively. The
problem is solved subject to the following constraints:
Equality constraints: In order to calculate nodal voltages and
complex power ow in transmission lines, power ow calculations
should be done. The general form of power ow equations are as
follows:

Pi V; h Pd i  Pg i 0

Q i V; h Q d i  Q g i 0

where Pi and Qi are injected active and reactive powers corresponding to bus i, respectively. P d i is active power and Q d i is reactive
power of load related to bus i. Pg i and Q g i are generated active
and reactive powers corresponding to bus i, respectively. For the
buses where the UPFC is installed, active and reactive powers equations are proposed in [25]. For the other buses, conventional power
ow equations are valid.
Inequality constraints: Inequality constraints of security based
optimal location and parameter setting of UPFC are as follows:
max
Pmin
g k 6 Pg k 6 Pg k
max
Q min
g k 6 Qg k 6 Qg k

k 1; . . . ; ng
k 1; . . . ; ng

max
V min
vR 6 V vR 6 V vR
max
V min
cR 6 V cR 6 V cR

dmin
vR
dmin
cR

6 dv R 6 dmax
vR
6 dcR 6 dmax
cR
SUPFC 6 Smax
UPFC

7
8
9
10
11
12
13

where the ng is number of the generation units.

Ranking process: In this work, UPFC optimal placement and
parameter setting process is derived for critical contingency scenarios. Therefore, to determine the severity of the contingency,
an index should be dened as follows:

Index xL N OLL xV N VVB

4. Hybrid group search optimization algorithm (HGSO)

This section, rstly presents a brief overview of group search
optimization algorithm. More details of GSO can be found in
[23]. Afterwards, the proposed hybrid group search optimization
algorithm and applied modication are explained.
4.1. Group search optimization algorithm (GSO)
The GSO algorithm is a novel optimization algorithm which is
based on animal searching behavior and their group-living theory
[23]. The population of GSO algorithm is called a group and each
individual in the population is called a member. The GSO members
are dened by their position and head angle. X ki 2 Rn and uki 2 Rn1
are position and head angle vector corresponding to the ith member of the group at the kth searching iteration, respectively. Where,
R is the set of real numbers. The angle vector of ith member at the
kth iteration is dened as follows:

uki uki1 ; . . . ; ukin1

15

where uin is polar angle of the ith member relative to the nth
dimension. In addition, a direction vector is dened for each member corresponding to its head angle as follows:



k
k
Dki uki di1 ; . . . ; din

16

where din at kth iteration, is calculated using Eq. (17):

8
n1
Y
>
>
>
>
cosukiq
j1
>
>
>
q1
>
>
<
n1
k

Y
dij
k
cosukiq j 2; . . . ; n  1
>
> sin uij1
>
>
qj
>
>


>
>
>
: sin ukin1
jn

17

14

where NOLL stands for the number of overload lines and NVVB
represents the number of voltage violated buses. Additionally, xL
and xV are weighting coefcients for over loaded lines and voltage
violated buses, respectively. In this paper both weighting
coefcients are set to 1.

The group includes three types of members: producer, scroungers and rangers. A member, which has the best tness value, is chosen as the producer. Scroungers follow the producer and join to the
opportunities. Rangers perform random walk motions in order to
nd the better point in comparison with the position of the
producer.

Fig. 3. Producer searching procedure in the binary space.

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Otherwise, it will stay in its current position and turn its head using
Eq. (21):

4.2. Hybrid group search optimization algorithm

Hybrid optimization methods are consisted of two major parts
i.e. discrete and continues optimization algorithm. The conventional GSO is proposed in [23] as continues optimization algorithm.
In the following, discrete equivalent for each section of the conventional GSO will be introduced. Moreover, for the continues section,
improved group search optimization (IGSO), based on the authors
pervious work [24], is applied.
4.2.2. Producer
As previously mentioned, a member which has the best tness
value is chosen as the producer member. Producer utilizes its
vision ability to scan the search space for the better states. Vision
ability is dened as the ability of testing some points around its
current position. Producing is modeled as follows:
4.2.2.1. Continues form. The producer rstly, tests three points
around its current position. Three candidate points are formulated
using Eqs. (18)(20):

X z X kp r1 lmax Dkp uk


X r X kp r1 lmax Dkp uk r 2 hmax =2


X l X kp r1 lmax Dkp uk  r 2 hmax =2

18
19
20

where Xz, Xr and Xl are three test points. X kp is producer position at

kth iteration. r1 2 R1 is a normally distributed random number with
mean 0 and standard deviation 1 and r2 2 Rn1 is a uniformly distributed random number in the range of (0, 1), lmax is maximum
pursuit distance and hmax is maximum pursuit angle. The producer
will then nd the best point. If the best point has a better value in
comparison with its current position, producer will y to that point.

uk1 uk r2 amax

21

where amax is the maximum turning angle.

4.2.2.2. Discrete form. In this section, the producer member is modeled in the discrete searching space. In this mode, all the members
of GSO group are either 0 or 1. Xp is the producer member. In order
to simulate the producer searching ability, a part of producer member array is chosen using two random pointers. The sub array
between the two pointers is the search space for a sample condition. Therefore, the term r1lmax of Eqs. (18)(20) is simulated.
Fig. 3 depicts the producer searching procedure in the binary space.
According to Fig. 3, for (1  n) array, r3 is a random pointer in the
range of (1, n) and r4 also is a random pointer in the range (r3, n).
As previously mentioned, three test points should be checked
by the producer. These three points are called zero, right and left
point. In the binary searching space, each two sequential columns
of the sub-array, which is selected by using r3 and r4, are dened as
one step of head angle revising process. Hence, Eq. (18) is simulated. For each step four states in binary space are possible. One
of them is the initial condition and other three states should be
checked by the producer member as zero, right and left points.
The scanning process for a sample sub-array is shown in Fig. 4.
Each of these test points forms a new sub-array and the new
sub-array is placed between r3 and r4 pointers. Hence, a new array
is formed. This action simulates Eqs. (15)(17). If the new array has
better tness value in comparison with that of the older producer
does, the new array is chosen as a producer member. If it does not
nd a better position, it changes its head angle and at this new
head angle it performs producing. Fig. 5 depicts the producing
action at second step of head angle.
4.2.3. Scroungers
As mentioned in Section 4.1, scroungers follow the producer
and join to the opportunities which are found by the producer.
Scrounging is modeled as follows:

Zero

Right

Current position

4.2.4. Continues form

At the kth iteration, the ith scrounger could be modeled as a
random walks toward the producer using Eq. (22):

Left

X ik1 X ki r5  X kp  X ki
X ki

where
is position of ith scrounger at kth iteration and r5 2 R is a
uniform random number in the range of (0, 1). Operator is the
Hadamard product, which calculates the entry wise product of the
two vectors.

Fig. 4. Choosing three new test points for sample sub-array.

Zero

Current position

Right

Left

Fig. 5. Producing procedure at second step of head angle.

22
n

1
4.2.5. Discrete form
According to Eq. (23), subtract function models the scroungers
tracking feature. However, in the binary search space, the function
is not possible. Hence, XOR function is proposed. By utilizing the
XOR function the subtract function could be efciently modeled
in binary search space. Scrounging in the binary space could be
formulated as follow:

DX ki XORX kp ; X ki

Fig. 6. Scrounging process.

23

M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

where X kp is producer member position at kth iteration and X ki is ith

scrounger member at kth iteration. The XOR function is dened as
follows:

XORa; b

1 ab

24

0 ab

Moreover, term r 5 

X kp

 X ki of Eq. (22) is simulated by randomly

DX ki array. Similar to the producer member,

selecting a part of the

random length selecting is done by using two random pointers.
According to Fig. 6, for (1  n) array, r6 is a random number in the
range of (1, n) and r7 is another random number in the range of (r6, n).

877

Components of the sub-array which are equal to 1 represent difference and state of their relevant components in the X ki should be
revised. Hence, a new scrounger member is generated.

4.2.6. Rangers
4.2.6.1. Continues form. According to Section 4.1, some of the group
members are selected as rangers. Rangers are dispersed from their
positions and perform random walks at search space. At the kth iteration, a ranger member generates a random head angle ui using Eq.
(18). Afterwards, the li should be generated as a random distance by
using (25) and the ranger moves to the new point using (26):

li ar 1 lmax
X ik1

X ki

25

li Dki

k1

26

4.2.6.2. Discrete form. Rangers perform ranging at random length

and direction. Similar to the producer and scroungers, random
length selection is accomplished by using two random pointers
r8 and r9. For (1  n) array, r8 is a random number in the range of
(1, n) and r9 is a random number in the range of (r8, n). In addition,
random direction is generated using (27):

Main Producer
Ranked Producers
Scrounger
Scrounger Path

DX i rand int1; l

Locus Candidate Points

where DXi is the selected sub-array using r8 and r9. The l is a randomly generated length and rand int 1; x is an operator which generates a random binary array with length of x, respectively.

Fig. 7. Candidate points and scroungers paths.

Start
Generate initial group and
evaluate members

Separate binary and

continues array
Choose continues Producer
Choose binary Producer
Perform continues Producing using
(18-20)
Perform binary Producing
Choose continues Scroungers and
perform Scrounging using (22)
Choose binary Scroungers and perform
Scrounging using (23-24)

Choose continues Rangers and

perform Ranging using (25-26)
Choose binary Rangers and perform
Ranging using (27)

Apply multi-producer searching

process using (28-37)

Combine binary and continues array

No

Termination criterion
satisfied?

YES

Terminate
Fig. 8. Flow chart of the proposed hybrid group search algorithm.

27

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

4.2.7. Proposed modications

As previously mentioned, the proposed HGSO is consisted of
both continuous and discrete searching algorithms. The discrete
form is introduced in this paper. However, the continuous form
is proposed in [23]. Based on authors investigations in [24], it is
concluded that, convergence speed of the conventional GSO is
low. Additionally, it nds a near optimal solution rather than optimal one. In [24], improved GSO (IGSO) is proposed. According to
[24], IGSO is capable of overcoming the discussed problems. Therefore, for the HGSO, it is proposed to utilize IGSO as continues
searching algorithm instead of the conventional one. In the following, main steps of the IGSO are discussed:
At each iteration, the producer member has the best tness
value. Therefore, candidate points in the vicinity of the producer
position perhaps are better approach to the global optimal point.
However, these points may not be checked by the producer
owing to the limited random distance selection. On the other
hand, the target of the scroungers is the producer member.
Therefore, the discussed points are not checked, also, by the
scroungers. Therefore, if these points have similar performance
like the producer, scroungers could follow the candidate points
and searching process would be improved utilizing multi-producers searching process. The candidate points are just generated
when, the tness value does not change for some sequential iterations. In other words, during some special iterations, the multiproducer searching process is derived either to help the main
producer to depart the local minima, or prompt it to accelerate
the searching procedure. In [24], it is proposed to switch to the
multi-producer searching process, if the tness value does not
change after 10 iterations. The candidate points are modeled as
follows:

iter10
If X iter
6e
p  Xp



X max  X p
iter max iter
X rp test X iter

r
p
iter
X max



X max  X p
iter max iter
l
iter
X p test X p  r
iter
X max

k1
where X k1
; X k1
and X k1
i
i0 ; X i00
i000 are scroungers of rst, second, third
and fourth group, respectively. The r 1 ; r 2 ; r3 and r4 are random
numbers in the range of (0, 1).

4.3. Summary of the HGSO

Based on the discussions of Sections 4.14.2, owchart of the
proposed algorithm is shown in Fig. 8. By utilizing parallel continues and binary search and applying the proposed modications in
continues search, a powerful hybrid search algorithm is proposed.
5. Implementation of the proposed method
In this section, implementation of the proposed method to the
optimal placement and parameter setting of the UPFC is discussed.
Fig. 9 depicts the owchart of the step by step implementation of

28
29
30

where r 2 R1 is a uniformly distributed random number in the range

of (0, 1). Xmax and iter max are the maximum value of that variable
and maximum number of iterations, respectively. Additionally, e is a
threshold value. The candidate points and scroungers paths are
depicted in Fig. 7.
By using Eqs. (28)(30), several candidate points are generated
in vicinity of the main producer. Afterwards, the candidate points
should be tested by the main producer. In each step, X z ; X r and
Xl are appointed as producers rank one to three, respectively. The
ranked producers are modeled as follows:

X p1 X z
X p2 X r

31
32

X p3 X l

33

where Xp1, Xp2 and Xp3 are producers rank one to three, respectively.
The scrounger members should be divided into four groups. Afterwards, ranked producers are randomly appointed to each group of
scroungers. Therefore, scroungers of each group follow their corresponding producer. Scrounging process at kth iteration is modied
as follows:

X k1
X ki r 1  X kp  X ki
i
X k1
i0
X k1
i00

X ki0

X ki00

r2 

X kp1

r3 

X kp2

34

X ki0

35

X ki00

36

k
k
k
000
000
X k1
i000 X i r 4  X p3  X i

37

Fig. 9. HGSO implementation owchart.

Table 1
Transmission lines and the relevant numbers of case 1.
Number

From

To

Number

From

To

1
2
3
4
5
6

1
1
1
2
2
2

2
4
5
3
4
5

7
8
9
10
11

2
3
3
4
5

6
5
6
5
6

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

the proposed HGSO to the optimal location and parameter setting

of the UPFC problem. According to the owchart, Linenumber denes
the line which should be tripped. In order to detect the overloaded
transmission lines and the voltage limits violations, contingency
analysis is done. Afterwards, the HGSO, power ow and the UPFC
parameters are initialized corresponding to their working ranges.
In this work, the UPFC series voltage source working range is
[0.001, 0.2] and the shunt voltage source working range is
[0.9, 1.2]. Additionally, in this study, the maximum apparent power
of UPFC is considered 100 MVA [21]. Afterward, the hybrid group
search optimization algorithm is executed. In the next step, the
results of the optimization for the relevant contingency are saved.
The same process is done for contingency of the other transmission
lines. Finally, optimal UPFC location and related settings for each
contingency scenario are obtained. It should be mentioned that,
the unit commitment problem is affected by existence of FACTS

devices. However, the proposed method is capable of nding the

optimal location and parameter setting of UPFC independent from
committed units. Additionally, the nal location is decided by the
system decision maker who considers various factors including
the proposed security based assessment.

6. Simulation studies
In order to validate the performance of the proposed method,
comprehensive simulation studies are carried out. The HGSO and
modied power ow calculations are provided using MATLAB 7.6
in 2.5 GHz, i5, personal computer. In addition, in order to compare
the proposed method with particle swarm optimization (PSO), it is
implemented to the security based UPFC location and parameter
setting problem. For HGSO, the maximum number of iterations

Table 2
Simulation result of case 1.
Without UPFC

With UPFC
HGSO

a
b
c
d

PSO

T.L

O.L.L

% L.L

V.V.

UPFC location

Vcr

Vvr

1
2
8

103
103
128

10

0.2

1
3
5

122
107
112

Bus 4

11

2
8

148
115

Bus 4

7
8

224
146

UPFC setting

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

1.037

1
8

144
109

0.068

1.1

1
3

111
134

0.085

0.9

110

11

0.100

1.05

7
8

150
110

11

0.071

1.1

11

0.035

1.1

106

O.L.L

% L.L

V.V.

1.01

112

0.055

1.1

1
3

0.099

0.9

Bus 6

11

0.140

125

11

125

11

UPFC location

UPFC setting
Vcr

Vvr

10

0.1

115
108

11

1.099

140

0.071

1.1

0.056

1.1

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

Fig. 10. Transmission lines loading level for contingency of line number 3.

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Table 3
Simulation result of case 1 by changing working range of UPFC.
Without UPFC
a

T.L

O.L.L

a
b
c
d

With UPFC
b

% L.L

1
2
8

V.V.

103
103
128

Working range

UPFC location

Vcr

Vvr

[0.001, 0.2]
[0.001, 0.18]

[0.9, 1.2]
[0.9, 1.2]

UPFC setting

10
10

Vcr

Vvr

0.2
1.8

1.01
1.1

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

Loss (p.u)

2
2
8

112
111
108

0.1216
0.134

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

and population size is set to 300 and 25 respectively. The parameter setting of the PSO is captured from [23].
6.1. Case 1
In this case, the proposed method is tested on the IEEE 6-bus
test system. System data of the mentioned system is taken from
[26]. As previously mentioned, UPFC placement is done only for
some critical contingencies. Transmission lines are numbered as
presented in Table 1.
Simulation results are presented in Table 2. According to Table 2,
for critical contingency scenarios, optimal locations and parameters are determined using the proposed method. In addition, PSO

Table 4
Transmission lines and the relevant numbers of case 2.
Number

From

To

Number

From

To

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

1
1
2
2
2
3
4
4
4
5

2
5
3
4
5
4
5
7
9
6

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

6
6
6
7
7
9
9
10
12
13

11
12
13
8
9
10
14
11
13
14

based results are reported in Table 2. According to Table 2, by using

the proposed method, transmission lines overload problem is sufciently controlled.
In the cases of transmission lines number 5, 6 and 7, contingency scenarios, transmission lines overload problem is totally
solved, using the proposed method. However, PSO based solution
methodology does not have adequate performance. In the cases
of transmission lines number 2 and 3, contingency scenarios, some
parts of the transmission lines overload problem are solved. For
instance, contingency of transmission line number 3 is controlled
by locating the UPFC on the transmission line number 10. The
transmission lines loading corresponding to the line number 3 contingency scenario is depicted in Fig 10. According to Fig 10, in the
case of line number 3 contingency scenario, overload problem of
transmission lines 1 and 8 are totally solved. On the other hand,
loading level of the transmission line number 2 is increased. Based
on the comprehensive simulation studies, in some cases, due to the
network conguration and system state values, loading levels are
increased. Similar discussion is valid for other scenarios. For
instance, for the transmission line number 2 outage, loading percent of line 1 is reduced 7% of its initial value and overload problem
of line number 5 is totally solved. The computation time for this
case is 4.56 s. Additionally, for the most critical case, working range
of series and shunt voltage sources of UPFC are changed and line
loadings, voltage magnitudes and system losses are investigated.
According to Table 3, by varying the operational limits, the problem violates from pervious optimal point and system total loss
has been increased.

Table 5
Simulation result of case 2.
Without UPFC

With UPFC
HGSO

T.La

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

UPFC location

4
5
6
7
16

147
154
319
114
184

Buses 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14

3
6
7
16

115
150
138
148

Buses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14

3
4
7
16

191
147
106
199

Buses 10, 14

a
b
c
d

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

PSO
UPFC setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.047

1.1

0.079

0.046

1.008

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

UPFC location

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

Vcr

Vvr

4
5

140
138

0.038

0.984

4
5
6
16

142
136
305
108

301

3
6

110
128

0.061

0.969

3
5
6
16

108
104
117
110

125

160

0.024

0.975

3
4
16

188
135
148

139

UPFC setting

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Fig. 11. Voltage prole of the system for contingency of line 1.

Table 6
Simulation result of case 2 by changing working range of UPFC.
Without UPFC
T.La

O.L.Lb

With UPFC
% L.Lc

4
5

147
154

6
7
16

319
114
184

V.Vd

Buses 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14

Working range
Vcr

Vvr

[0.001, 0.2]

[0.9, 1.2]

[0.001, 0.2]

[0.9, 1]

UPFC location

UPFC setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.047

1.1

0.047

a
b
c
d

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.V.d

Loss (p.u)

4
5
6
4
5
6

140
138
301
143
140
305

0.2688

Buses 3, 9, 10

0.2981

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

6.2. Case 2
In this case, the proposed method is tested on the IEEE 14-bus
test system. System data of the mentioned case is taken from
[27]. Table 4 presents the corresponding numbers of transmission
lines.
Simulation results of case 2 are presented in Table 5. Considering restrictions in the space of this paper, some of the most critical
contingency scenarios are reported. According to Table 5, in the
case of transmission line number 3 contingency scenario, transmission system faces a critical condition in which ve transmission
lines are overloaded and there are six buses with voltage violations. However, by using the proposed method, transmission lines
number 7 and 16 overload problems are totally solved. Additionally, overload percent of other overloaded lines are reduced. For
instance, loading level of transmission line number 5 and 6 are
reduced approximately 11% and 6% of their initial value, respectively. Moreover, all voltage violations are corrected. Similar discussion is valid for the contingency scenario of transmission line
number 1. Overload problem of transmission line 16 is totally
solved and loading level of transmission lines 6 and 7 are reduced
approximately 15% and 10% of their initial values, respectively.
Additionally, Fig. 11 depicts the voltage prole of system for the
contingency scenario of transmission line number 1. According to
Fig. 11 voltage prole of system is improved. Finally, from the
results of Table 5 it could be concluded that by using the proposed

Table 7
Transmission lines and the relevant numbers of case 3.
Number

From

To

Number

From

To

Number

From

To

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

1
1
2
3
2
2
4
5
6
6
6
6
9
9

2
3
4
4
5
6
6
7
7
8
9
10
11
10

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

4
12
12
12
12
14
16
15
18
19
10
10
10
10

12
13
14
15
16
15
17
18
19
20
20
17
21
22

29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

21
15
22
23
24
25
25
28
27
27
29
8
6

22
23
24
24
25
26
27
27
29
30
30
28
28

method, transmission lines overload problem is sufciently controlled. Nevertheless, by optimal UPFC placement, just some parts
of the problem are solved. In some cases, due to the network conguration and system values, loading level of transmission lines
are increased. According to Table 5, for all cases, UPFC should be
located on transmission line number 7. The computation time for
the IEEE 14-bus test system is 9.12 s. Additionally, the results are
reported in Table 6 for the most critical case while working range

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M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Table 8
Simulation result of case 3 (HGSO and PSO).
Without UPFC

With UPFC
HGSO

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

UPFC location

14

12
19
20
21
22
23
29
32
33
35

133
136
119
191
119
172
213
107
278
137

10, 12 Buses 1430

27

2
3
6
7
8
9

135
130
129
117
332
240

Buses 330

1
3
6
40

104
131
103
205

24
26
29
30

2
3
7

114
112
103

610
12
1430

0.102

1.040

105

0.098

1
3
6

107
135
105

410 and 1230

40

0.018

1.005

1
3

107
119

40

2
40

109
119

26
30

0.061

0.983

104

a
b
c
d

PSO

T.La

Setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.033

0.2

0.117

1.2

1.015

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

UPFC location

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

19

108

27

119
107
154

26, 30

152

12
19
21

21
23

144

23

144

33

219

33

218

35

108

35

107

118

118

300

300

226

226

104

1
3

104
119

121
40

110

0.9

2
10

105
215

0.014

1.2

1
3

107
129

0.045

1.003

2
40

108
102

Setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.029

0.2

0.101

1.2

0.9

19, 24
25, 30
30

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

Fig. 12. Transmission lines loading level for contingency of line number 14.

of series and shunt voltage sources of UPFC are changed. According to Table 6, by varying the operational limits, the line loadings, voltage magnitudes and system losses are violated from
their pervious optimal points and system total loss has been
increased.
6.3. Case 3
In this case, the proposed method is applied to the IEEE 30-bus
test system. System data of this case is taken from [28]. Table 7

presents the corresponding numbers of the transmission lines.

Simulation results of case 3 are presented in Table 8. According
to Table 8, contingency of transmission lines 5 and 14 are the most
critical contingency scenarios. Therefore, there are several numbers of overloaded transmission lines and voltage limit violations.
In all cases, voltage limits violation problem is totally solved. In
addition, in the most cases, transmission line loading is sufciently
improved. However, due to the system conguration and state values, in some cases, transmission lines loading levels are increased.
For instance, in the case of the transmission line number 5

883

M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Table 9
Simulation result of case 3 (HGSO and GSPSO).
Without UPFC

With UPFC
HGSO

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

UPFC location

14

12
19
20
21
22
23
29
32
33
35

133
136
119
191
119
172
213
107
278
137

10, 12 Buses 1430

27

2
3
6
7
8
9

135
130
129
117
332
240

Buses 330

1
3
6
40

104
131
103
205

24
26
29
30

2
3
7

114
112
103

610
12
1430

0.102

1
3
6

107
135
105

410 and 1230

40

2
40

109
119

26
30

a
b
c
d

GSPSO

T.La

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

19

107

30

152

21

158

23

144

23

146

33

219

33

228

35

108

35

106

118

118

300

300

226

226

104

104

121

110

1.040

105

0.098

0.9

10

120

0.018

1.005

1
3

107
119

40

0.014

1.2

129

0.061

0.983

104

0.045

1.003

108

Setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.033

0.2

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

UPFC location

19

108

27

21

1.2

0.117

1.015

Setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.029

0.2

1.2

0.101

0.9

25, 30

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

contingency, transmission lines number 2, 3 and 7 overload problem is totally solved. In addition, loading level of the transmission
lines number 6 and 9 are decreased. Nevertheless, loading level of
the transmission line number 8 is increased. As previously mentioned, the increment is due to the system conguration and state
values. Moreover, in order to perform comprehensive comparison
study, in addition to PSO, GSPSO based methodology [29] is implemented and compared with proposed method. Table 9 presents
comparison study between proposed HGSO and GSPSO. The
parameter setting of group search section is similar to HGSO and
parameter setting related to PSO section of GSPSO is captured from

[29]. Overall comparison among the results of Tables 8 and 9 indicate that, in most cases, GSPSO has better performance in comparison with conventional PSO. However, based on comparison
studies, the performance of HGSO is better than both PSO and
GSPSO algorithms. Fig. 12 depicts the transmission lines loading
level for contingency of line number 14. Similar to the previous
cases, for the most critical case, working range of series and shunt
voltage sources of UPFC are changed and line loadings, voltage
magnitudes and system losses are investigated. According to
Table 10, by varying the operational limits, the problem violates
from its previous optimal point and system total loss increases.

Table 10
Simulation result of case 3 by changing working range of UPFC.
Without UPFC
T.La

a
b
c
d

O.L.Lb

With UPFC
% L.Lc

2
3
6
7
8

135
130
129
117
332

240

Tripped line.
Overloaded line.
Loading level.
Voltage violation.

V.Vd

Buses 330

Working range

UPFC location

Vcr

Vvr

[0.001, 0.2]

[0.9, 1.2]

[0.001, 0.18]

[0.9, 1.1]

UPFC

Setting
Vcr

Vvr

0.2

1.2

0.18

1.1

O.L.Lb

% L.Lc

V.Vd

Loss (p.u)

6
8
9
6
8
7
9

118
300
226
120
305
108
230

0.3867

Buses 930

0.3998

884

M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

Fig. 13. Voltage prole of the system for contingency of line 14.

Fig. 14. The convergence curve of the proposed HGSO in comparison with PSO and GSPSO.

According to Fig. 12, in most cases, transmission lines overload

problem is totally solved. Moreover, voltage prole of the system
for contingency of line 14 is presented in Fig. 13. According to
Fig. 13, by using the proposed method, voltage prole of the system
is sufciently improved. Based on the results of the simulation
studies, it can be concluded that, power system security under single line contingencies is improved by using the proposed method in
order to nd out the optimal location and setting of the UPFC. The
computation time for IEEE 30-bus test system is 18.34 s.
Moreover, convergence characteristic of this case is presented in
Fig. 14.

 The proposed method has the ability of the parallel search in

binary and continues space.
 Based on the simulation studies, by using the proposed method
in order to nd out the optimal location and setting of the UPFC,
most of the transmission lines overload problem and bus voltage limit violation problem are effectively solved.
 In order to compare the performance of the proposed method
with other methods, the proposed method is solved by using
the PSO algorithm, too.

8. Conclusion
7. Discussion
This work presents a new algorithm for solving the security
based UPFC placement and parameter setting problem. The following important features should be considered about this work:
 In this work, a new method for solving the security based UPFC
placement and parameter setting problem is proposed.
 The proposed method is a global method for all mixed-integer
problems and it is applicable to all these kind of problems.

In this paper, the HGSO algorithm is proposed for solving the

security based UPFC placement and parameter setting problem.
The proposed method has the ability of the parallel search, in both
binary and continues space. Extensive simulation studies are performed to validate the performance of the proposed method in different contingency scenarios. In most cases, by utilizing the
proposed method, transmission line overload problem and bus
voltage limits violation problem are solved. Comparison results
also conrm the accuracy of the proposed method. It can be concluded that, the proposed algorithm is qualied for being applied

M. Tarafdar Hagh et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 873885

to the security based optimal UPFC placement and parameter setting problem and all other mixed-integer problems.

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