Soft Computing Technique Based Economic Load Dispatch Using Biogeography-Based Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

This paper presents a biogeography-based optimization (BBO) algorithm to solve both convex and nonconvex economic load dispatch (ELD) problems of thermal plants. Lack of exploration capability of biogeographybased optimization (BBO) leads to slow convergence. The proposed methodology can take care of economic dispatch problems involving constraints such as transmission losses, valve point loading, multi-fuel options and prohibited operating zones. Biogeography is the study of the geographical distribution of biological organisms. Mathematical equations that govern the distribution of organisms were first discovered and developed during the 1960s. The mindset of the engineer is that we can learn from nature. This motivates the application of biogeography to optimization problems; the BBO is based on two steps mutation and migration. The purpose of this work is to find out the advantages of application of the soft computing technique and BBO in particular to the economic load dispatch problem.