Generation maintenance scheduling in power systems using ant colony optimization for continuous domains based 0–1 integer programming

In this paper, we present a formulation that enables Ant Colony Optimization for Continuous Domains (ACOR) to seek the optimal solution of the unit maintenance scheduling problem. ACOR is a direct extension of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). Also it is the significant ant-based algorithm for continuous optimization. For the maintenance scheduling, cost reduction is as important as reliability. The objective function of this algorithm considers the effect of economy as well as reliability. Various constraints such as spinning reserve, duration of maintenance crew are being taken into account. The ACOR formulation developed is applied on a power system with six generating units. The simulation result of this technique is compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that the authors’ proposed approach outperforms them in terms of reaching a better optimal solution and speed.