Optimization of Hydropower Storage Projects Using Harmony Search Algorithm

This paper proposes a harmony search algorithm-based optimization of design and operation of hydropower storage systems. The optimization formulation of the problem is a nonconvex nonlinear program difficult to solve by gradient-based nonlinear programming techniques. The search space of the problem is large due to number of operational variables. Harmony search optimization algorithm is applied in the problem of design and operation optimization of Bakhtiari Dam and its powerplant project in Iran. The problem is solved in two cases of optimizing only design variables and optimizing design and operational variables, simultaneously, and the promising results obtained are presented.Accepted versio