Application of the stochastic fractal search algorithm and compromise programming to combined heat and power economic–emission dispatch

Abstract

Combined heat and power (CHP) generation is a competent configuration for simultaneous production of thermal and electric energy. The interdependency of heat and power outputs of CHP units presents complications and non-convexities in modelling and optimization. The nonlinear constrained economic dispatch optimization problem becomes more complex when one considers the pollution produced by generating units, transmission losses and valve-point effects of thermal units. This article uses the stochastic fractal search algorithm to solve the bi-objective combined heat and power economic dispatch (CHPED) problem. The CHPED problem has bounded feasible operating regions and many local minima. The compromise programming method is used to transform the two objective functions into an aggregated objective function. The results are compared with previous results obtained by many different methods reported in the literature. The results reveal that the proposed algorithm achieves a better near-global solution and compares favourably with other commonly used global optimization techniques.