Due to latest blackouts in the world, voltage instability and voltage collapse have become the main issues studied in electrical power systems. For this purpose, various Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices have been utilized for many years, increasing voltage stability while at the same time improving system performance, reliability, supply quality and providing environmental benefits. These devices location for enhancing voltage stability is a significant problem for actual power networks. When determining the best location of the controller, an optimal solution should be found to increase the loading margin and also reduce voltage deviation and power losses. In the literature, the weight coefficients of the criteria were chosen equally or approximate values were obtained by trial and error method and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques have never been used in finding the optimal location of FACTS devices. This article presents a novel technique for optimal location of Static Var Compensator (SVC) devices in power systems using MCDM. The simulation was conducted on Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT) in MATLAB. In the proposed approach, IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 118-bus test systems were used and the optimal location was found out with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), an MCDM technique. The consistency of the results has been checked and the reliability has been increased, and the results of the application are promising. In addition, the optimal location of the SVC for different contingencies was found, and the effects of the overloaded lines and Phase-Shifting Transformer (PST) on the network were analyzed.

The goal of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is to select the most appropriate of the alternatives by evaluating many conflicting criteria together. MCDM methods are widely available in the literature and have been used in various energy problems. The key problems studied in electrical power systems in recent years have included voltage instability and voltage collapse. Different flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS) equipment has been used for this purpose for decades, increasing voltage stability while enhancing system efficiency, reliability and quality of supply, and offering environmental benefits. Finding the best locations for these devices in terms of voltage stability in actual electrical networks poses a serious problem. Many criteria should be considered when determining the most suitable location for the controller. The aim of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of MCDM techniques to be used for optimal location of a static VAR compensator (SVC) device in terms of voltage stability. The ideal location can be determined by means of sorting according to priority criteria. The proposed approach was carried out using the Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT) in MATLAB in the IEEE 14-bus test system. Using ten different MCDM methods, the most appropriate locations were compared among themselves and a single ranking list was obtained, integrated with the Borda count method, which is a data fusion technique. The application results showed that the methods used are consistent among themselves. It was revealed that the integrated model was an appropriate method that could be used for optimal location selection, providing reliable and satisfactory results to power system planners.