Solving unit commitment problem by a binary shuffled frog leaping algorithm

Shuffled frog leaping (SFL) algorithm is one of the heuristic algorithms which is classified in swarm intelligence area. The standard version of the SFL and the improved versions of the algorithm operate in continuous space and is being researched and utilised in different subjects by researches around the world. The results obtained show that the improved versions of the algorithm perform well. But many optimisation problems are set in discrete space and there is no binary version of SFL to deal with these problems. Thus, an SFL algorithm is presented for optimising binary encoded problems called as binary SFL (BSFL). To show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, BSFL is tested on unit commitment problem, which is one of the most important problems to be solved in the operation and planning of a power system. The results obtained by the proposed algorithm are compared with the previous approaches reported in the literature. The results show that the proposed algorithm produces optimal solution for the study system.