A Novel Heuristic Optimization Methodology for Solving of Economic Dispatch Problems

Abstract

This paper presents a biogeography-based optimization (BBO) algorithm to solve the economic load<br />Dispatch (ELD) problem with generator constraints in thermal plants. The applied method can solve<br />the ELD problem with constraints like transmission losses, ramp rate limits, and prohibited operating<br />zones. Biogeography is the science of the geographical distribution of biological species. The models<br />of biogeography explain how a organisms arises, immigrate from an environment to another and gets<br />eliminated. The BBO has some characteristics that are shared with other population based<br />optimization procedures, similar to genetic algorithms (GAs) and particle swarm optimization (PSO).<br />The BBO algorithm mainly based on two steps: migration and mutation. The BBO has some good<br />features in reaching to the global minimum in comparison to other evolutionary algorithms. This<br />algorithm applied on two practical test systems that have six and fifteen thermal units, results of this<br />paper are used to see the comparison between performances of the BBO algorithm with other existing<br />algorithms. The result of this investigation proves the efficiency and good performance of applying<br />BBO algorithm on ELD problem and show that this method can be a good substitute for other<br />algorithms.