A SOLUTION TO AN ECONOMIC DISPATCH PROBLEM BY A FUZZY ADAPTIVE GENETIC ALGORITHM

Abstract. In practice, obtaining the global optimum for the economic dispatch (ED) problem with ramp rate limits and prohibited operating zones is presents difficulties. This paper presents a new and efficient method for solving the economic dispatch problem with non-smooth cost functions using a Fuzzy Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (FAGA). The proposed algorithm deals with the issue of controlling the exploration and exploitation capabilities of a heuristic search algorithm in which the real version of Genetic Algorithm (RGA) is equipped with a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) which can efficiently explore and exploit optimum solutions. To validate the results obtained by the proposed FAGA, it is compared with a Real Genetic Algorithm (RGA). Moreover, the results obtained by FAGA and RGA are also compared with those obtained by other approaches reported in the literature. It was observed that the FAGA outperforms the other methods in solving the power system economic load dispatch problem in terms of quality, as well as convergence and success rates.