A new hybrid algorithm for economic dispatch considering the generator constraints

The practical economic dispatch (ED) problems have many non-convex characteristics, which makes the searching of the global optimum difficult when using traditional mathematical methods. This paper presents a novel hybrid algorithm (HA) to the ED problems based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique and differential evolution (DE) algorithm. Since the standard PSO has the adversity of premature convergence, the mutation and crossover operators of the DE, as well as the chaotic sequences, are considered to be integrated into the PSO to improve the global searching ability. Moreover, the dynamic penalty function is applied to deal with the constraints. The proposed method is tested on a 15-unit system considering the ramp rate limits, operating zones, and network losses. Also, the results are compared with those of other optimization methods.