ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a binary particle swarm optimization (PSO) for optimal placement and
sizing of fixed capacitor banks in radial distribution lines with nonsinusoidal substation
voltages. The objective function includes the cost of power losses and capacitor banks with
constraints which include limits on voltage, total harmonic distortion (THD) and sizes of
installed capacitors. A binary PSO applied to a test system and solutions of the binary PSO
are compared with those of heuristic numerical algorithm that is based on the method of local
variations. Computer simulation shows that the harmonic components affect the optimal
capacitor placement and sizing.