Optimal Siting of UPFC for Reducing Congestion Cost by using Shadow Prices

As competition is introduced in the electricity supply industry, congestion becomes a more important issue. Congestion in a transmission network occurs due to an operating condition that causes limit violations on the transmission capacities. Congestion leads to inefficient use of the system, or causes additional costs (Congestion cost). One way to reduce this inefficiency or congestion cost is to control the transmission flow through the installation of UPFC (Unified Power Flow Controller). This paper also deals with an optimal siting of the UPFC for reducing congestion cost by using shadow prices. A performance index for an optimal siting is defined as a combination of line flow sensitivities and shadow prices. The proposed algorithm is applied to the sample system with a condition, which is concerning the quadratic cost functions. Test results show that the siting of the UPFC is optimal to minimize the congestion cost by the proposed algorithm.