An efficient evolutionary algorithm applied to economic load dispatch problem

An efficient optimization procedure based on oppositional chemical reaction optimization (OCRO) is proposed for the solution of economic load dispatch (ELD) problem with continuous and non-smooth cost function having valve point effect and multi-fuel options with various constraints. To accelerate the convergence speed and improve the simulation results, opposition based learning (OBL) is incorporated with the basic CRO algorithm. OCRO deals with the formation and breaking of chemical bonds in a chemical reaction. To show the potential of the proposed oppositional CRO algorithm, it has been applied to two different test systems namely, a 10-generator system along with multiple fuel options and 40 unit system having valve-point effects and transmission loss in the system. Comparing with the other existing techniques, the current proposal is found better than other techniques available in the literature. The proposed method is considered to be a promising alternative approach for solving the ELD problems in practical power system.