An efficient hybrid MPSO-GA algorithm for solving non-smooth/non-convex economic dispatch problem with practical constraints

The main goal of Economic Dispatch (ED) is to determine the output of generating unit with least cost while satisfying the equality and inequality constraints. Valve-point effect, the ramp rate limits, prohibited operation zones (POZs), Multiple-fuel and transmission losses make the ED a complicated, non-linear constrained problem. Hence, in this paper, a new hybrid method based on modified particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm (MPSO-GA) is proposed to solve such complicated problem. The feasibility of the proposed method is validated on six, ten and fifteen units test system. The results obtained by the MPSO-GA are compared with other techniques of the literature. These results substantiate the applicability of the proposed method for solving the constrained ED with non-smooth cost functions. Keywords: Economic load dispatch, Non-convex function, Genetic algorithm (GA), Modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO