Gravitational Search Algorithm for Solving Complex Economic Load Dispatch Problems

In this research, Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) is proposed to determine optimal Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) problem with consideration of variousgenerator constraints. Accordingly, for practical operation, many realistic constraints as; ramp rate limits, generationlimitation, prohibited operating zone,transmission loss and nonlinear cost functions are considered. GSA is constructed based on the law of Gravityand the notion of mass interactions. Where, the GSA is not got trapped in local optimum. Test results on the modified 6, 15 and 40 unit generating system indicatethat ELD solutions by GSA can give less total generation costs than Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Hybrid GA and PSO (GA/PSO), Iteration PSO (IPSO) and Self Organizing Hierarchical PSO (SOH_PSO) methods.

Keywords:

Gravitational Search Algorithm , Economic load dispatch , Ramp rate limits , Prohibitedoperating zone