Imperialist Competitive Algorithm for minimization of losses by optimally locating FACTS controllers in power system

One of the key tasks to perform in the complicated operation and planning of the power system is the optimal power flow. the unified power flow controller (upfc) is one of the flexible ac transmission system (facts) powerful power electronics device. the upfc is capable of providing complex control of power systems. this paper focuses on optimally locating the unified power flow controller (upfc) device in power system based on static voltage stability index (svsi) technique using imperialist competitive algorithm (ica). the main objective of this paper is to employ ica optimization technique which is applied to solve the optimal power flow problem in presence of upfc device. the ica optimization technique is also used to minimize the power losses and installation cost of upfc device. due to this,the voltage profile is improved thereby enhances the stability in power system. this technique is tested in standard ieee 6-bus system,ieee 14-bus system,ieee 30-bus system. the performance of ica is compared with other optimization techniques like particle swarm optimization (pso),genetic algorithm (ga),ant colony optimization (aco) and gravitational search algorithm (gsa) to show the effectiveness of the algorithm. the ica technique has a great ability in faster convergence characteristics.