Fixed-head hydro-thermal scheduling using a modified bacterial foraging algorithm

In this paper the short-term hydro-thermal scheduling problem is solved using a modified bacterial foraging algorithm (MBFA). The integrated hydro-thermal systems considered include fixed-head hydro reservoirs. The short-term hydro-thermal scheduling (STHTS) problem is a dynamic large-scale nonlinear optimization problem which requires solving unit commitment and economic power load dispatch problems. The bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA) is a recently developed evolutionary optimization technique based on the foraging behavior of the E. coli bacteria. The BFA has been successfully employed to solve various optimization problems; however, for large-scale problems such as this problem, it shows poor convergence properties. To overcome this problem considering its high-dimension search space, critical modifications are introduced to the basic BFA. The algorithm presented is validated using two fixed-head test systems. Results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of solving the problem with good performance.