Abstract: Optimal reactive power flow is an optimization problem
with one or more objective of minimizing the active power losses for
fixed generation schedule. The control variables are generator bus
voltages, transformer tap settings and reactive power output of the
compensating devices placed on different bus bars. Biogeography-
Based Optimization (BBO) technique has been applied to solve
different kinds of optimal reactive power flow problems subject
to operational constraints like power balance constraint, line flow
and bus voltages limits etc. BBO searches for the global optimum
mainly through two steps: Migration and Mutation. In the present
work, BBO has been applied to solve the optimal reactive power
flow problems on IEEE 30-bus and standard IEEE 57-bus power
systems for minimization of active power loss. The superiority of the
proposed method has been demonstrated. Considering the quality of
the solution obtained, the proposed method seems to be a promising
one for solving these problems.