Combined Heat and Power System Operation Cost Minimization using Frog Leaping Based Intelligent Search Algorithm

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems have been utilized more and more in power systems, recently. With the increasing penetration of CHP-based co-generation of electricity and heat, determination of economic dispatch of power and heat becomes a more complex and challenging task. In this paper, the optimal operation of CHP-based system is studied and an algorithm is proposed for solution of it. The optimal operation of CHP-based systems or CHP economic dispatch is inherently a nonlinear and non-convex optimization problem with a lot of local optimal solutions. In this paper, frog leaping algorithm is used for solution of the problem. This heuristic algorithm is well capable to attain the optimal solutions even in the case of non-convex optimization problems. The proposed method is implemented on several standard test systems. The obtained results have been compared with other intelligent search algorithms. The numerical simulations verify that optimal operation of CHP systems can result in a large economic annual saving.