Cabling and scheduling for electric power plant operation via Tabu-BOA algorithm

In order to show the effectiveness of evolutionary computation to practical problems, This work applies Bayesian optimization algorithm with tabu search (Tabu-BOA) to decision problems on cabling and scheduling for electric power plant operation. Tabu-BOA is a hybrid evolutionary computation algorithm with competent GAs and meta-heuristics. The decision problems we cope with have complex combinatorial properties, therefore, they are hard to formulate and solve via conventional mathematical programming techniques. Using the proposed method, we have solved the following problems. The complexity of the problems are increasing in order: (1) cost minimization of electric equipment configuration and the corresponding cabling; (2) plus the decision of the power plant operation patterns; (3) plus parallel operation of plural transformers; and (4) plus the change of the supply voltages (high voltage or low voltage) to the electric power load.