Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch Using a Chaotic Turbulent Flow of Water-Based Optimization Algorithm

In this study, an optimization algorithm called chaotic turbulent flow of water-based optimization (CTFWO) algorithm is proposed to find the optimal solution for the optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem. The ORPD is formulated as a complicated, mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problem, comprising control variables which are discrete and continuous. The CTFWO algorithm is used to minimize voltage deviation (VD) and real power loss (P_loss) for IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 57-bus power systems. These goals can be achieved by obtaining the optimized voltage values of the generator, the transformer tap changing positions, and the reactive compensation. In order to evaluate the ability of the proposed algorithm to obtain ORPD problem solutions, the results of the proposed CTFWO algorithm are compared with different algorithms, including artificial ecosystem-based optimization (AEO), the equilibrium optimizer (EO), the gradient-based optimizer (GBO), and the original turbulent flow of water-based optimization (TFWO) algorithm. These are also compared with the results of the evaluated performance of various methods that are used in many recent papers. The experimental results show that the proposed CTFWO algorithm has superior performance, and is competitive with many state-of-the-art algorithms outlined in some of the recent studies in terms of solution accuracy, convergence rate, and stability.