Application of Imperialist Competitive Algorithm to Solve Constrained Economic Dispatch

Abstract

In the constrained dynamic ED problem, considering some practical operation constraints of generators, such as ramp rate limits and prohibited operating zones, electric power generation of units are scheduled. So, this paper, considering these constraints, presents a new optimization technique based on Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) to solve the Economic Dispatch (ED) problem in power systems. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, this algorithm is applied to solve constrained dynamic ED problem of two power systems with 6 and 15 units. The results are compared to those achieved from conventional methods such as Simulated Annealing (SA), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The experimental results show that the proposed method is capable to determine the solutions of ED problem more fast and accurate than other conventional approaches.