Empirical study of particle swarm optimization for economic load dispatch with valve-point effects

This paper empirically studies the performance of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. A practical test system in power system studies is selected as a testing function. The test system takes into account the valve-point effects. The study aims to tune four main parameters involved in the PSO implementation in a typical economic load dispatch problem. The experimental results illustrate the best values to be chosen for PSO´s different parameters. The various ranges of a penalty factor were tested and the paper determines which range of values is best suited in the tested economic dispatch problem.