Evolutionary programming based economic dispatch for units with non-smooth fuel cost functions

This paper develops an efficient, general economic dispatch (ED) algorithm for units with non-smooth fuel cost functions. Based on the evolutionary programming (EP) technique, the new algorithm is capable of determining the global or near global optimal dispatch solutions in the cases where the classical Lagrange based algorithms cease to be applicable. Effectiveness of the new algorithm is demonstrated on two example systems and compared to that of the dynamic programming, simulated annealing, and genetic algorithms. Practical application of the developed algorithm is additionally verified on the Taiwan power (Taipower) system. Numerical results show that the proposed EP based ED algorithm can provide accurate dispatch solutions within reasonable time for any type of fuel cost functions.