Modeling and Solving the Optimal Reactive Dispatch Problem Incorporating Strictly Feasible Operational Sequencing of Decision Variable Adjustments by Graph Theory and Particle Swarm Optimization

Solving Optimal Reactive Dispatch (ORD) problems is a well-established research topic and essential for electrical power systems operation planning. However, while most literature focuses on determining optimal adjustments to system controls, a practical implementation of the solutions requires sequential execution of these adjustments, guiding the system's operating point towards the optimum through a strictly feasible operational path. This work presents two new ORD models that incorporate graph-theory-based constraints to ensure the existence of such a path, which were solved using a particle swarm optimization algorithm and power flow calculations. Numerical results for the IEEE 14-, and 30-bus systems validade the proposed models and attain viable solutions for practical implementations.