This paper investigates the advances in Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) technology and its application in enhancing transient stability in power systems. FACTS devices are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to improve power system performance by controlling power flow, voltage, and stability. Various FACTS technologies are reviewed, including Static Var Compensator (SVC), Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), and Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC), among others. The impact of these technologies on power system stability is examined and a comprehensive analysis of their effectiveness in mitigating transient stability issues is provided. Recommendations for future research in the field of FACTS technology for improving the reliability and stability of power systems are given in the conclusion.

Using flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices in power systems while adhering to some equality and inequality constraints, researchers around the world sought to address this issue with the objectives of improving the voltage profile, reducing power losses in transmission lines, and increasing system reliability and safety. The recent development of FACTS controllers opens up new perspectives for safer and more efficient operation of electrical power networks by continuous and rapid action on power systems parameters, such as phase angle shifting, voltage injection and line impedance compensation. Thus, an improvement on voltage profile and enhancement of power transfer capability can be obtained. It is for that, the idea behind the FACTS concept is to enable the transmission system to be an active element in increasing the flexibility of power transfer requirements and in securing stability of integrated power system. It may also be effective in transient stability improvement, power oscillations damping and balancing power flow in parallel lines. The primary issue that has significantly piqued the interest of a number of researchers working in this field is the FACTS optimization problem, which involves determining the optimal type, location, and size of FACTS devices in electrical power systems. For solving this mixed integer, nonlinear and non-convex optimization problem, this paper provides an in-depth and comprehensive review of the various optimization techniques covered in published works in the field. In this review, a classification of optimization techniques in five main groups that are widely used, such as classical optimization techniques or conventional optimization approaches, Meta heuristic methods, analytic methods or sensitive index methods and mixed or hybrid methods, is summarized. In addition, a performance descriptions and comparison of these different optimization techniques are discussed in this study. Finally, some advice is offered for future research in this field.

Classical Optimal Power Flow (OPF) is one of the complex and challenging problem in power system that includes non-convex, nonlinear and large-scale structure. With the use of incorporation of uncertain and intermittent wind energy sources in the OPF problem, the complexity of the problem escalates. In a power system, Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices can mitigate most of the problems associated with power quality and overload in the network. However, determining the placement and sizing of facts devices is an additional problem to minimize the total cost of production of the power system. As a result, in order to solve OPF problem which includes all of these conditions, an artificial intelligence based optimization algorithm needs to have an unusual exploration ability as well as exploitation–exploration balance. Weighted mean of vectors (INFO) is a new heuristic optimizer, which can help finding a more effective solutions in engineering design optimization problems. In this study, firstly, INFO algorithm was improved by using the Fitness–Distance Balance (FDB) method with its abilities. Then, the algorithm developed with a hyper-heuristic method to create the beginning optimal population by using Linear Population Reduction Success-History based Adaptive Differential Evolution (LSHADE). Finally, the developed algorithm has been applied for solving optimal placement and sizing of facts devices for optimal power flow problem incorporating wind energy source. The obtained results showed that the proposed algorithm is more effective solver for the problems cases while compared to the literature.

The growing integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the power system causes congestion to occur more frequently. In order to reduce congestion in the short term and to make the utilization of the power system more efficient in the long term, power flow control (PFC) in the transmission system has been proposed. However, exemplary studies show that congestion will increase also in the distribution system if the transmission system is expanded. For this reason, the potential of PFC to reduce congestion in a model of a real 110 kV distribution system is investigated. Several Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) devices are optimized in terms of their number and placement in the power system, their size, control parameters, and costs, by using a Parallel Tempering approach as well as a greedy algorithm. Two optimization variants are considered, one reducing the number of degrees of freedom by integrating system knowledge while the other is not. We find that near a critical grid state and disregarding costs, PFC can reduce congestion significantly (99.13 %). When costs of the UPFCs are taken into account, PFC can reduce congestion by 73.2 %. A basic economic analysis of the costs reveals that the usage of UPFCs is profitable. Furthermore, it is found that the reduction of the solution space of the optimization problem leads to better results faster and that, contrary to expectations, the optimization problem is simple to solve. The developed methods allow not only for the determination of the optimal use of UPFCs to minimize congestion, but also to estimate their profitability.