Comparison between Harmony Search Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization in Economic Power Dispatch

Abstract

This paper presents a solution of economic power dispatch problem using Harmony Search (HS) algorithm. The method easily takes care of equality and inequality constraints of the power dispatch problem to find the optimal solution. To show its efficiency, the algorithm is applied to IEEE 118-bus power system having 54 generating units. The problem is also solved by Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques. Results have shown that Harmony Search method gives minimum cost of production of real power and minimum power loss in the system as compared to Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization. This shows the robustness and effectiveness of this method. Moreover, cost of real power generation in dollar per hour per megawatt output of each generator is calculated to identify the least to most expensive generator in the system.