High concentrations of induction motor loads can impose stress on transmission and distribution systems, leading to voltage instability in some situations. Properly sized and coordinated reactive power sources will provide for improved operation. We present a strategy for finding an optimal mix (type, size, and location) of dynamic shunt reactive compensation devices. The planning strategy is subject to satisfying steady-state, dynamic and transient performance criteria such as fault-induced delayed voltage recovery limits, as well as criteria related to single ( N –1) contingency and load disturbance events. Shunt reactive power compensation devices considered include mechanically switched capacitor banks, static reactive power compensators and static synchronous compensators. The proposed strategy employs a large number of multitimescale time-domain simulations suitable for use with high performance computing clusters and a genetic algorithm to solve the mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulation using parallel computation capabilities. The method is applied to a New England IEEE 39-bus system with assumed high penetration of induction motors. A comprehensive study shows that performance enhancement and significant cost reduction can be achieved using an optimum combination of various shunt compensator technologies.