An effective genetic algorithm applied to the optimal selection of standing reserve tenders

This paper proposes a new coding scheme for a genetic algorithm (GA) based contracting strategy. The GA based contracting strategy is utilized in order to effectively and efficiently search for the optimal availability hours for flexible tenders in a typical standing reserve market. The proposed coding scheme firstly narrows the large search space to a smaller, more manageable region, and secondly searches for the optimal availability hour within the specified region. Identification of the narrow search region was previously carried out manually. Once located, there was no guarantee that the manually identified region was optimal. The proposed scheme automates the search for the narrow search region, handles a large number of flexible tenders and significantly improves the final solution.