Solving the Combined Heat and Power Economic Dispatch Problem Considering Power Losses by Applying the Snake Optimization

Abstract: The combined heat and power economic dispatch (CHPED) problem seeks to find the optimal point for power and heat generations to minimize the fuel cost considering the problem constraints. In this paper, the snake optimization (SO) algorithm is used to solve the CHPED problem, considering power losses. Two case studies including 5-, and 48-unit test systems have been simulated in MATLAB software. The simulation results of test case 1 verify that the SO reduces the minimum operation costs by at least 0.774%, 0.367%, 0.1437%, 0.143%, 0.1143%, and 0.0215%, compared to the best results of genetic algorithm (GA), harmony search (HS), classic particle swarm optimization (CPSO), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), group search optimizer (GSO), and imperialist competitive Harris hawks optimization (ICHHO) algorithms, for load profile 1. It also reduces the minimum operation costs by at least 1.705%, 1.361%, 0.1293%, 1.109%, 0.0957%, and 0.0756%, in compassion to GA, HS, CPSO, ICA, GSO, and ICHHO algorithms for load profile 2. Furthermore, for load profile 3, SO decreases the minimum operation costs by at least 0.5948%, 0.3716%, 0.122%, 0.1206%, and 0.0761% compared to GA, HS, CPSO, ICA, and GSO algorithms. In 48-unit test system, considering power losses, prohibited operating zones, and the valve point loading effect, the reduction of operating costs using the SO algorithm compared to CPSO, gravitational search algorithm (GSA), GA, hybrid time varying acceleration coefficients-GSA-PSO (TVAC-GSA-PSO), group search optimizer (GWO), society-based gray wolf Optimizer (SGWO), and ICHHO algorithms is 1.943%, 1.288%, 0.463%, 0.659%, 0.426%, and 0.197%, respectively.