Genetic algorithm based optimal placement of phasor measurement units for harmonic source identification

Owing to the continuous growth of nonlinear loads and penetration of distributed generation (DG) plants in the power system, the harmonics are increasing at an alarming rate. The harmonics generated at one location can affect the performance of other components because of the interconnected nature of power system and even affecting the performance of harmonic generating sources. Therefore, it is important to locate non linear loads for placing the harmonic mitigation devices. In this paper, the locations of harmonic sources are identified by the direction of power flow. The required harmonic current injection data is obtained by the phasor measurement units (PMUs). The placement of PMUs is costly and needs communication system at every substation. The optimal placement of PMUs is carried out using genetic algorithm (GA) and effectiveness of the method is studied on IEEE 69-bus system.