Optimal under voltage load shedding scheme for a distribution network using EPSO algorithm

The utilities have the last control action of load shedding to protect the system from blackout. In this direction a prudent planning to determine optimal load shedding is required to avoid voltage collapse of the system. In this paper, under voltage load shedding (UVLS) problem is formulated as a multi objective minimization problem having following objectives (i) power loss (ii) voltage deviation (iii) cost of load shedding. A hybrid optimization method i.e. evolutionary particle swarm optimization (EPSO) is presented to determine optimal load shedding amount. The proposed method for UVLS is implemented on IEEE-33 test network. The results obtained from EPSO are then compared with traditional PSO algorithm. The comparative analysis shows that EPSO is more accurate in finding precise solution than conventional PSO algorithm.